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JERARY 

A BREAKFAST 

f, H, KELLOGG, M. D, 



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PRESENTED BY 



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THE ITINERARY 
OF A BREAKFAST 



A Popular Account of the Travels of a Breakfast through 

the Food Tube and of the Ten Gates aad Several 

Stations through Which It Passes, also 

of the Obstacles Which It 

Sometimes Meets. 



By J. H. KELLOGG, M.D. 

Medical Director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium 




FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 
I920 






Copyright, 1 91 3, by 
J. H. KELLOGG, M.D. 

{Printed in the United States of America) 



<3ltt from 

Robert L Owen 
Nov, 4, 1931 



PREFACE 

Modern medical research has clearly in- 
criminated the colon as the source of more dis- 
ease and physical suffering than any other or- 
gan of the body. 

The artificial conditions of civilized life, 
sedentary habits, concentrated foodstuffs, false 
modesty, ignorance and neglect of bodily 
needs, have produced a crippled state of the 
colon as an almost universal condition among 
civilized men and women. 

Intestinal toxemia or autointoxication is 
the most universal of all maladies, and the 
source of autointoxication is the colon with its 
seething mass of putrefying food residues. 

A very special purpose in the mind of the 
author in the preparation of this little volume 
has been to combat some of the mischievous er- 
rors which are everywhere current in relation 
to the hygiene of the colon, especially with ref- 
erence to the sufficiency of one daily evacua- 
tion of the food residues. It seems to the 



4 PREFACE 

author that no one can review the facts here 
set forth without being convinced that food 
residues and wastes should be evacuated at 
least three times a day, or after each meal. 

In the chapters, "The Ten Gates," "The 
House-broken Colon" and "The Crippled 
Colon," new facts brought forward by modern 
research and discovery are grouped together in 
a new way which it is hoped the reader will 
find interesting as well as informing. 

The call for information on the vital ques- 
tion of "waste disposal" is steadily increasing. 
It is hoped that the additional light which it is 
believed this volume sheds upon this subject 
will prove of interest and practical value to 
every careful reader. 

Practical assistance will be found in the 
author's works, "Colon Hygiene," "Autoin- 
toxication," and various other works on food 
and diet issued by the publishers of this work 
as well as in the monthly columns of "Good 
Health" 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Food Tube 9 

Food the Natural Laxative 13 

Stations along the road 14 

Food principles 15 

The Five Food Laboratories 18 

The Mouth 18 

The Stomach 20 

The Intestines 20 

The Liver 21 

The Waste Disposal System 22 

The Colon 23 

The Normal Intestinal Rhythm 23 

Three Daily Evacuations 23 

The Food Residues 29 

The Digestive Time Table 30 

Rhythmic Activity 30 

Rate of Movement 31 

Nature's Plan 32 

Food Excites Peristalsis 34 

Diagram of the Food Tube, and Digestive Time Table.. 37 

The Ten Gates 38 

Entrance Gate — the Mouth 40 

Inspector's Gate — the Soft Palate 43 

Food and Water Gate 49 

The Stomach Gate 53 

The Bowel Gate— the Pylorus 54 

The Food Control Gate — the Ileocecal Sphincter 61 

The Colon Gate — the Ileocecal Valve 62 

The Reversing Gate 66 

The Discharging or Ejector Gate— the Pelvic Colon.. 68 
The Exit Gate— the Anus 70 



6 CONTENTS 

FAOK 

The House-Broken Colon 71 

Normal Bowel Action 72 

Hindrances to Normal Bowel Action 75 

The Sitting Posture 75 

Weak Abdominal Muscles 76 

Concentrated Diet 79 

High Protein Diet 83 

Reduced Quantity of Food 87 

Horace Fletcher's Mistake 88 

The Educated or House-Broken Colon 90 

The Use of Laxative Drugs 93 

The Food Blockade in the Colon 96 

Clogging of the Colon 98 

Bulk and Lubrication 103 

How to Raise the Blockade 104 

The Crippled Colon 106 

Colon Hygiene 106 

The Receiving Station 106 

Bowel Habits of Wild Animals, Wild Men, and Idiots. 108 

Injurious Conventionalities 109 

Lesson from an Idiot Asylum 109 

Interesting Japanese Colon Customs 112 

One Daily Evacuation is Chronic Constipation 117 

Abnormal Colon Conditions 117 

Paralysis of the Rectum 117 

Tight Sphincter 118 

Colitis 118 

Prolapse of the Pelvic Colon 119 

Adhesions of the Cecum 119 

Adhesions of the Appendix 119 

Dilated or Pouched Cecum 120 

Incompetent Ileocecal Valve 121 

X-ray Views of the Food Tube 123 

X-ray Study of Motility 124 

What the X-ray Expert Sees 124 

Simple Motility Test. 131 

Rules for Care of the Colon 133 



CONTENTS 7 

PAGE 

Simple Constipation 134 

Cumulative or Rectal Constipation 154 

Latent Constipation 134 

The Intestinal Flora — What It Is and Why It 

Must Be Changed 140 

Two Classes of Germs — Fermentation and Putrefac- 
tion 141 

Poisoning from Putrefying Colon Contents 142 

Protective Germs 144 

Cause of Old Age 146 

Reforming the Intestinal Flora 148 

Results of Changing the Flora 149 

Dangerous Germs Made Harmless 150 

How to Change the Intestinal Flora 152 

The "Fruit Regimen" 154 

Antitoxic Diet 155 

Protective Acid-Forming Bacteria 156 

Headaches 159 

The Colon not Intended to be a Sewer 157 

Nuts a Coming Food Staple 165 

The Origin of Peanut Butter 170 

Food Economy 172 

Advantages of a Nut Diet 175 

A False Economy 177 

Personal Experience 182 

The First Mammals Were Nut Eaters 184 

The World's Pedestrian Record Won by a Nut Eater. 185 

Nuts May Save the Race 187 

The Nut Is a Fruit with a Shell 187 

Nuts a Good Food for Nursing Mothers and 

for Infants 190 

The Blight on the Baby Crop 191 

Interesting Experiments 192 

Low Comparative Cost of Nuts 195 

The Best Nuts 203 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Diagram of Food Tube Showing the Ten 
Gates. 

Cross Section of Intestinal Villi. 

A Gastric Cycle. 

Cross Section of Papilla Circumvallatae, show- 
ing Taste Buds. 

The Normal Colon. A Series of ten Colored 
Plates showing the progress of the food and 
food residues along a normal colon. 

Crippled Colons (three colored plates). 

Adherent Pelvic Colon. 

Pelvic Colon Restored by Operation. 

Reverse Peristalsis. 

Incompetent Ileocecal Valve. 



THE FOOD TUBE 

The food tube, or prima viae, as it was 
termed by the ancients, is a muscular tube 
through which the food travels a distance of 
about ten yards in its transit of the body. 
This journey along the alimentary canal, how- 
ever, is not at all comparable to the passage 
of water or other liquid along a pipe. The 
food canal is, in fact, not an open tube into 
and along which liquids may be poured, like a 
water pipe or a rubber tube, but a soft, flexi- 
ble, ever-changing hollow muscle which adapts 
its size to its contents and tightly grasps and 
manipulates them and continually pushes 
them along by means of contraction waves 
which travel rhythmically from above down- 
ward so long as there is anything present in 
the tube, either solid, liquid, or gaseous. 

When solids or liquids leave the mouth, 
then, they do not drop through a hollow tube 
into our interiors, but are seized or grasped 
by the muscular walls of the food tube and 
are forcibly carried on from point to point by 
purposive and rhythmical automatic muscular 
movements. 



10 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The mucous lining of the tube is so sensi- 
tive that the smallest particles are noticed and 
dealt with. This is well shown in the mouth. 
A minute particle, as a seed or flake of bran, 
will keep the tongue busy until it has been 
dislodged and disposed of. A very small 
particle lodged far back in the throat will pro- 
duce gagging, coughing or other expulsive ef- 
forts until swallowed or rejected. 

This same sensitiveness to contacts exists 
all the way along the food tube from entrance 
to exit, although after the food is swallowed, 
we are not, when in health, conscious of the 
automatic efforts by which they are moved 
along. 

When the tube contents are bulky, dis- 
tending or stretching its muscular walls, these 
contraction waves, so-called peristaltic waves, 
are vigorous and may even become painfully 
violent as in colic. When no food has been 
taken for twelve hours or more, the intestine 
is inactive. During fasting there is practically 
no intestinal activity. 

The eminent English anatomist Keith has 
shown that the movements of the stomach 
and intestines are controlled by a mechanism 
much the same as that which controls the heart. 




DIAGRAM OF FOOD TUBE 



Showing the Ten Gates which control the movement of food 
along the canal. 1, Mouth ; 2, Fauces ; 3, Entrance to CEsoph- 
agus ; 4, Cardiac Orifice of Stomach; 5, Pylorus; 6, Ileocecal 
Sphincter ; 7, Ileocecal Valve ; 8, Keith's Node, seat of reverse 
peristalsis ; 9, Pelvic Colon ; 10, Anus. 



THE FOOD TUBE 11 

His "Serpent" 

The intestinal movements are, moreover, di- 
rected with such evident purpose and precision 
as almost to suggest that the food tube is an 
independent and intelligent creature, possess- 
ing its own brain and will and ever perform- 
ing its functions as a faithful body-servant. 

The movements of the intestine are so 
much like those which one sees executed by a 
moving snake, that a noted writer very 
naturally referred to his food tube as his 
"serpent, " and certain movements of the colon 
are referred to in medical literature as snake- 
like movements. 

When the nerves of an arm, a leg, or al- 
most any other organ of the body, are sev- 
ered, so that connection with the brain or 
spinal cord is cut off, the organ is at once 
paralyzed. It is as powerless to act as though 
it were actually separated from the body. 
This is by no means the case with the food 
canal. An experiment made by Professor 
Roger, of Paris, will illustrate this. A stick 
pin was placed in the intestine of an animal, 
the point being directed downward. At once 
a series of most interesting movements began. 



12 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

As the point of the pin began to penetrate the 
wall of the intestine, the tissues began to 
thicken, thus preventing an immediate punc- 
ture. 

At the same time, a fold of the intestine 
pushed up beneath the head of the pin and 
pushed it over, so that in a short time the pin 
was completely reversed, the head being di- 
rected down stream in the intestine, and by the 
contraction of the bowel pushed along until it 
was discharged from the body. This wonder- 
ful action was seen to take place in the intes- 
tine, even after all the nerves connecting the 
intestine with the brain had been severed. 

In an equally intelligent manner the stom- 
ach and intestines deal with the food, moving 
it along from point to point as is necessary to 
perfect the work of digestion and absorption, 
retaining it when necessary in various pouches 
for special purposes, and even sending it back 
from one point to another to meet certain exi- 
gencies which may arise. But our habits of 
eating are so unnatural, and our neglect of 
our bodily welfare so great, that in spite of 
Nature's elaborate precautions and marvelous 
adaptations, very few persons reach adult age 
without getting their colons so badly crippled 



THE FOOD TUBE 13 

that they are compelled to suffer almost con- 
stantly from miseries and inconveniences from 
which they seek relief in vain through the use 
of cathartic pills, "salts," mineral waters, and 
a long list of drugs, every one of which is de- 
cidedly injurious and an aggravation of the 
very conditions it is expected to relieve. Lax- 
ative drugs are the most active of all causes 
of constipation. 

Food the Natural Laxative 

When food is taken into the stomach, the 
movements of the tube become very vigorous. 
Indeed, while the food is still in the mouth and 
being chewed, and before a morsel has been 
swallowed, the movements begin, and are four 
times as vigorous during the taking of a meal 
as at other times. This is a very excellent rea- 
son why constipated persons should eat delib- 
erately, taking ample time at meals and chew- 
ing long and well. Food is the natural laxa- 
tive. The act of eating starts the action of the 
muscular machinery by means of which first 
the food and later the food residues are trans- 
ported along the alimentary canal, and so long 
as chewing continues new impulses are con- 
tinually transmitted to the stomach and intes- 



14 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

tines which quicken the peristaltic movements 
and activity of the whole digestive machine. 
The observations of Hirsch, Case and others 
have shown that the colon contents advance as 
far during the hour of eating as during four 
hours just before the meal. 

This interesting fact has heretofore re- 
ceived no attention from writers in practical 
hygiene, although the beneficial influence of 
eating an orange or an apple at night has long 
been recognized. This fact is no doubt also 
the explanation of the beneficial effect of drink- 
ing cold water before breakfast and at bedtime. 

Stations along the Road 

The food tube is like a street in London. 
Although continuous, it bears different names 
at different points along its course. Named in 
their natural order, the several divisions of the 
alimentary canal are as follows: 

The mouth; the fauces; the gullet or 
oesophagus; the stomach; the duodenum, 
short upper part of small intestine; jejunum, 
upper part of small intestine below the duo- 
denum; ileum, lower half of small intestine; 
cecum, the first part of the colon; ascending 
colon, section of the large intestine extending 



THE FOOD TUBE 15 

from cecum to liver; transverse colon, middle 
portion which passes across the abdominal 
cavity from the liver on the right to the spleen 
in the left; the descending colon, part which 
lies between the spleen and the left hip bone; 
iliac colon y the portion lying in the hollow of 
the left hip bone; the pelvic colon, the free 
loop which connects the iliac colon with the 
rectum; the rectum, the terminal part of the 
large intestine, normally empty; the anus, the 
exit of the food tube guarded by a circular or 
sphincter muscle, the anal sphincter; fifteen 
divisions in all. 

Food Principles 

The materials of which a breakfast is com- 
posed are not homeogenous. Food is made 
up of a variety of very diverse elements, 
known as food principles of which there are 
two groups: 

1. Major food principles, which constitute 
the bulk of our foods. These are : 

a. Carbohydrates, that is foodstuffs made 
up of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- 
gen, or really, carbon and water. Starch, 
sugar, dextrine and the acids of fruits and 
vegetables make up this class. 



16 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

60 Fats, hydrocarbons, substances consist- 
ing chiefly of carbon and hydrogen. All sorts 
of edible animal and vegetable fats and oils be- 
/ long to this class. 

c. Proteins, food substances made up of 
hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, with the addi- 
tion of nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus. 
White of egg, the lean of meat, the curd of 
milk, and the gluten of wheat are examples of 
protein. 

All of these substances are combustible, 
and they are burned in the body, but they are 
not equally useful as fuel. In fact, proteins 
are hardly to be considered as fuels. When 
starch and fats burn, the combustion products 
are simple, odorless and harmless carbon di- 
oxide and water. When protein burns, the 
products are highly poisonous and foul smell- 
ing gases. 

The purpose of protein is to supply mate- 
rial for building and repairing the tissues, the 
machinery of the body. 

These major food principles may be classi- 
fied then, as (1) Fuel food principles — 
starch, sugar and fats, and (2) Tissue build- 
ing food principles, the proteins. 

2. Minor food principles. 



THE FOOD TUBE 17 

These are also three in number, viz., salts, 
cellulose, and vitamines. 

The salts consist chiefly of lime, soda, pot- 
ash, magnesia and iron, combined with the 
principal mineral acids. 

Cellulose is found in vegetable food only. 
It is highly important as a bulk forming ele- 
ment and is necessary to stimulate the food 
tube to proper activity. 

Vitamines are subtle elements in the food 
which are essential to good nutrition, and in 
the absence of which various deficiency dis- 
orders make their appearance, such as beri- 
beri, scurvy, and probably pellagra and rickets. 

Vitamines are easily destroyed by boiling 
or baking and by long drying. This fact em- 
phasizes the need of a daily and abundant sup- 
ply of fresh fruit and vegetables which have 
not been impaired by cooking. 

It must also be remembered that vitamines 
are chiefly found in the outer coverings of 
seeds and in the germ, and so are not found in 
fine wheat flour nor polished rice. Vitamines 
abound in fruit and vegetable juices, espe- 
cially the juice of the orange. Green leaves 
(uncooked) such as lettuce, cabbage, and 
spinach, are rich in vitamines. 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 

The crude materials which we eat cannot 
be used for blood making or tissue building 
until they have been reduced to simple, 
homogeneous elements and refined and modi- 
fied by various chemico-vital processes which 
take place in the mouth, stomach, small intes- 
tine, liver and colon, each of which is a veri- 
table food laboratory in which most remark- 
able chemical fluids, the digestive juices, are 
formed, by which the necessary changes are 
produced in the several elements of the food. 

These changes are absolutely essential to 
life, and must be complete and efficient or nu- 
trition will fail, strength and energy will de- 
preciate and finally the life processes will 
cease. 

The Mouth Laboratory — The Mill 

First in order is the mouth, the mill which 
grinds the food by thorough mastication. 

The chewing of agreeable food starts up 
the whole digestive machinery. The saliva 
flows freely, the gastric and other juices like- 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 19 

wise begin to flow (appetite juice — Pavlov) 
and the peristaltic waves which move the food 
along the food tube from one laboratory to 
another, start in the stomach and travel along 
the whole thirty feet of the alimentary canal. 

The saliva softens the food and also trans- 
forms some of the starch into sugar (malt 
sugar) by the action of a starch-digesting Ter^ 
ment which it contains. The longer the food 
is chewed the more completely the starch is 
digested, and the larger the amount of gastric 
juice produced in the stomach in readiness to 
digest the food when it arrives. 

Proper chewing of the food also serves a 
useful purpose in regulating the food intake. 
The thor ough tasting of the food permits the 
nerves of taste to judge the quality of the 
food and to regulate the intake to suit the 
needs of the body, a most important function. 
Hasty eating and overeating go together. ^ 

Thorough mastication of the food helps to 
preserve the teeth by giving them the exer- 
cise they need. 

Persons who suffer from sour stomach, a 
condition due to an excess of hydrochloric 
acid secretion, should chew little, and so should 
eat soft food that needs little mastication. 



20 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The Stomach Laboratory 

The action of the saliva continues in the 
stomach. 

The stomach makes a strongly acid fluid, 
the gastric juice, which breaks up and softens 
the food by dissolving certain of the proteins; 
but it does not complete the work, and very 
little absorption takes place in the stomach. 
Gastric digestion is a sort of preliminary 
change in the food by which it is prepared for 
the action of the digestive fluids of the small 
intestine. 

The Chief Food Laboratory 

The small intestine is the great food lab- 
oratory of the body. Here the main work of 
digestion is done. Nearly all the digestible 
food principles are here completely trans- 
formed and prepared for blood and tissue 
building. 

In the small intestine absorption is sur- 
prisingly active. There are 5,000,000 villi, the 
special absorbents of the intestine, each of 
which, working constantly, absorbs about 
one ounce of liquid in a life time of sixty years. 

The small intestine normally absorbs about 




( ross-Section of Villi from the Small Intestine 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 21 

six quarts of liquid foodstuffs daily. The /. 
colon absorbs only 10-20 ounces daily. 

The food material which passes through 
the intestine may be regarded as the soil out 
of which the body grows. The villi are the 
rootlets which suck up the nourishment by 
which the body is developed and maintained. 

The Liver Laboratory — The Refinery 

Outside the food tube, but directly con- 
nected with it, is a wonderful laboratory to 
which practically all of the food goes after 
absorption and before entering the general 
blood current. Here the various products of L>\V 
digestion undergo the final delicate changes 
needed to prepare them for the various parts 
which they are to play in the repair and main- 
tenance of the body. In this laboratory more 
work is done, and a greater variety^ of work, 
than is accomplished by any other gland in 
the body, a fact which is the more surprising 
as from an anatomical standpoint the struct- 
ure of the liver is very simple, giving no sug- 
gestion of the astonishing versatility of its 
work. 




22 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The Waste-Disposal System 

One more important laboratory remains to 
be described, — the colon, the waste-disposal 
system of the body. By the time the food- 
stuffs have passed through the twenty-two 
feet of small intestine, the digestible and ab- 
sorbable matters have been practically all di- 
gested and absorbed. 

Out of the pound and a half of water- 
free digestible food usually eaten daily, only a 
small fraction is usually found in the ma- 
terial which enters the colon from the small 
intestine. The colon has little to do but to dis- 
pose of the unusable food remnants and of 
the excretory waste matters which enter the 
colon from the blood. The food residues con- 
tain billions of bacteria, which sometimes con- 
stitute more than half of the whole mass of 
the feces. 

The first half of the colon acts as a reduc- 
ing plant, absorbing a part of the water, by 
which the bulk of the material to be disposed 
of is reduced more than one half. 

The second half of the colon, the terminal 
part of the food tube, has no other function 
than to transmit and eject from the body the 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 23 

waste and poisonous matters which constitute 
the feces or the stool. 

The Normal Intestinal Rhythm — Three 
Daily Evacuations 

Under normal conditions, when all parts 
of the digestive tube are doing their work 
efficiently, the colon discharges its contents 
at least three times a day. The residue of each 
meal is dismissed after the second following 
meal. That is, the food residues from the 
daily breakfast should be discharged by a 
bowel movement between supper and bedtime. 

The following is the order of the food pro- 
cession for the three daily meals: 

Breakfast leaves the stomach and reaches 
the lower part of the small intestine in four to 
five hours (see diagram). The vigorous ac- 
tivity set up by the taking of dinner pushes 
the breakfast residue over into the colon, the 
middle part of which is reached within nine 
or ten hours. Between dinner and supper, 
the breakfast residue slowly works along to 
the lower end of the colon; and when supper 
is eaten, the new and vigorous peristaltic 
waves started in the stomach sweep the din- 
ner residue into the colon, and should carry 




24 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

out of the body the breakfast residue all ready 
waiting close to the outlet to be dismissed. 

During the night, the dinner residue 
works slowly along the colon to the lower end, 
and the supper residue passes over from the 
small intestine into the colon. The stimulus 
of awakening and the effort of rising often 
produce a bowel movement before breakfast 
by which the dinner residue is dismissed. 

After breakfast, the supper residue is dis- 
missed by the strong peristaltic waves set up 
by the meal, which should completely empty 
the colon. 

When the colon is thus swept clean of all 
body wastes and food residues once in twenty- 
four hours, there is no time J^or putrefaction, 
and the stools are free from the loathsome 
odors of decay which are commonly present. 
Under such circumstances, the blood remains 
free from the pollution which must result from 
the stagnation of food residues which have 
been retained for many successive days until 
putrefaction processes have reached a very ad- 
vanced stage. The liver, lungs, kidneys, and 
skin are not compelled to act as sewers in at- 
tempting to carry off the filth which the colon 
has failed to dispose of. 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 25 

So long as the body wastes are disposed of 



in this prompt and normal manner, the terri- 
ble effects which arise from intestinal toxemia 
or autointoxication are not seen. The skin is 
clear, the tongue clean, the breath sweet, the 
appetite keen, the mind active, optimistic and 
serene, sleep sound and restful, endurance 
great and resistance high. 

Unfortunately, this happy state is seldom 
met among civilized people who have advanced 
beyond the age of infancy. The customs of 
civilized life nearly all tend to render the 
colon sluggish, and to cripple its function as a 
waste-disposal system. The flesh-eating habit 
loads the colon with the remnants of un- 
digested flesh which undergo the same 
changes which take place in the decaying car- 
cass of a dead animal left to itself. Thus, the 
body is flooded with the most horrible and 
loathsome poisons, and the marvel is not that 
human life is so short and so full of miseries, 
mental, moral, and physical, but that civilized 
human beings are able to live at all. TheA fa^oyej 
civilized colon with its accumulated residue of 
five to fif teen muftis or more, is a Golgotha of 
pollution, a veritable Pandora's box of disease. 

Modern science has not only taught us 



1 1 



26 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

how the normal colon should act, but how 
the diseased colon may be reformed. By 
•a proper diet and proper management, even 
I very obstinate colons may be made to act 
| three times a day. Even colons which have 
become so badly twisted out of shape by ad- 
hesions and kinks, and so paralyzed by over- 
distension that they cannot be restored by the 
simple means mentioned may, by the wonder- 
ful resources of modern surgery, be made to 
perform their function in a perfectly satis- 
factory manner. And thus it may be said 
safely that every case of constipation, no mat- 
ter how obstinate, or what its cause, may be 
substantially relieved. 

In other words, the obstacles which bad 
habits and resulting disease create along the 
food tube may be removed, so that the delays 
which produce intestinal toxemia with all its 
horrible consequences may be prevented and 
the normal itinerary reestablished. 

The alimentary canal may be considered as 
divided into four apartments, in each of which 
the food is retained for a time to undergo 
changes which are not only essential to the di- 
gestive process, but are necessary to prepare 
the way for the next succeeding series of 



A Gastric Cycle 




X-ray Motion Picture of the Stomach, showing Action of 
the Pvlorus 



Urv^W >WhPvA<) 



THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 27 

changes that the food must undergo before it 
is absorbed. 

In the mouth, food is reduced to a soft 
pulp by the mechanical action of the teeth, the 
tongue and cheeks. At the same time, the 
food is mixed with the saliva, which acts upon 
the starch, converting it into sugar. This ac- 
tion begins in the mouth and continues for 
one or two hours in the stomach after the food 
is swallowed. 

In the stomach, the food is mixed with 
gastric juice, which, acting upon the food after 
it has been acted upon by the saliva, reduces 
it to a semi-fluid state. The mixing of the 
gastric juice with the food is accomplished by 
contraction waves, which pass along the 
stomach at the rate of three to five waves per 
minute. 

These contraction waves also serve to pass 
the digested food into the small intestine 
through the pylorus in portions equal to about 
one tablespoonful. 

The work of the stomach, like that of the 
mouth, is preliminary, having for its purpose 
the preparation of the food for further action 
by the digestive juices which it encounters in 
the small intestine. 



28 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

In the small intestine, which is some 
twenty-two feet in length, is performed the 
greater part of the work of digestion, and 
practically the whole of the work of absorp- 
tion. It is only in this part of the digestive 
apparatus that digestion is carried to the 
point of completion, by the action of the sev- 
eral quarts of digestive juices, consisting of 
gastric juice, pancreatic juice, intestinal juice, 
and the bile. 

The small intestine absorbs the enormous 
quantity of five or six quarts of liquid daily. 
Of the solid matter taken at an ordinary meal, 
less than an ounce finds its way into the colon. 
Practically all the digestible and usable por- 
tion of the food is absorbed by the small in- 
testine. 

The total volume of material which passes 
from the small intestine into the colon each 
twenty-four hours is only about one pint. 

It is evident, then, that the small intestine 
does practically all the work of digestion and 
absorption. The work performed by the 
stomach, while important, can be dispensed 
with. There are many persons living whose 
stomachs have been removed and who have 
good digestions, and enjoy good health. 




THE FIVE FOOD LABORATORIES 29 

The Food Residues 

The small amount of matter that passes 
into the colon consists of indigestible food 
residues, excretory products and intestinal 
mucus. These substances are of no use to the 
body and may do much harm if retained be- 
cause of the readiness with which they 
undergo putrefaction. It is the duty of the 
colon to receive these waste matters and dis- 
miss them from the body. 

During transit along the colon, a little 
more than half of the water content of the 
fecal matters is absorbed, but the amount of 
absorption which takes place from the colon 
represents only about one-twentieth of the 
work of absorption done by the small intes- 
tine. 



® 



THE DIGESTIVE TIME TABLE 

Now that the work of the several depart- 
ments of the alimentary canal has been de- 
fined, we are better prepared to understand 
the rhythmical processes by which nature 
moves the foodstuffs along from one part to 
another until all the usable material has been 
absorbed, and then disposes of the unusable 
residue. 

Rhythmic Activity 

The work of the stomach is completed in 
three to five hours, at the end of which time 
it is found empty. 

The work of the small intestine, which 
begins within a few minutes after food is 
taken into the stomach, when the first small 
portions of liquid material begin to pass out 
through the pylorus, is finished at the end of 
eight or nine hours from the beginning of the 
meal. 

At the end of eight hours in a normal per- 
son, the indigestible and unusable remnants 
of the food are found in the first part of the 
colon. Tests made by means of carmine, 



THE DIGESTIVE TIME TABLE 31 

swallowed in a capsule, show that in normal 
persons, discharge of the unusable residues 
of the meal begins seven to ten hours after 
the meal is taken and may be completed in 
twelve to fourteen hours. 

Rate of Movement 

If the food can pass from the mouth to 
the colon, a distance of nearly twenty-five feet 
in eight hours, in the meantime undergoing 
the various complicated processes of gastric 
and intestinal digestion, there certainly seems 
to be no good reason why the food residue 
should not complete the transit of the colon, 
a distance only one-fifth as great, in one-half 
the time, or four hours, especially since the 
work done by the colon is almost exclusively 
mechanical, the work of digestion and absorp- 
tion having been completed in the small intes- 
tine. 

There seems to be no reason why the un- 
usable remnants of the food should remain for 
many hours, even days, in the colon, under- 
going putrefactive changes and contributing 
in no way whatever to the welfare of the 
body, but, on the contrary, serving as a tre- 



32 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

mendous vital handicap and a cause of multi- 
tudinous miseries, maladies, and degenera- 
tions. 

Those who maintain that the normal time 
required for a meal to make the transit of the 
alimentary canal is forty-eight hours or more, 
should explain why it is necessary that the 
unusable remnants of a meal, the usable por- 
tion of which has been digested and absorbed 
in eight hours, should lie about rotting, pu- 
trefying and festering in the colon for forty 
hours or more, or five times the length of time 
required for digestion and absorption. 

This long delay affords an opportunity 
for the development of putrefactive poisons, 
which not only Metchnikoff, but many other 
investigators, have shown to be the prime 
factors in the development of chronic disease 
and premature senility. 

Nature's Plan 

The writer has gathered from various 
spurces a considerable amount of evidence 
that indicates that under normal conditions, a 
normal man, living upon a normal diet, which 
will include a sufficient amount of cellulose 
to furnish the normal stimulus to the muscular 



THE DIGESTIVE TIME TABLE 33 

walls of the intestine, will experience an evac- 
uation of alimentary wastes at least three times 
a day, and, in many cases, four times. 

Three bowel movements a day, indeed, is 
the prevailing habit among primitive people 
and the higher apes. The chimpanzee and the 
orang-utan move their bowels four to six 
times daily. 

This statement is made on information ob- 
tained by the writer direct from the keeper 
in charge of the London Zoo, to which sev- 
eral visits were made for the express purpose 
of inquiring into this matter and from others 
well acquainted with the habits of the big apes. 

Doctor Hornaday, superintendent of the 
Bronx Park, informed the writer that the big 
monkeys of the Bronx zoological collection 
move their bowels three times daily. 

When the intestine is empty, it is entirely 
quiet. When food is introduced into the 
stomach, contractile movements at once be- 
gin. These so-called peristaltic movements 
are not confined to the stomach, but simulta- 
neously with the beginning of contractile 
waves in the stomach similar waves appear 
all along the intestinal tract, from stomach 
to colon. 



34 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Food Excites Peristalsis 

Food is the natural laxative and the ac- 
tivity set up in the stomach by the taking of 
food is communicated to the entire intestinal 
tract. 

The result is that the intestinal activity set 
up by the taking of food into the stomach, 
not only serves to pass digesting food out of 
the stomach into the intestine but at the same 
time serves to move forward collections of food 
or food residues at various points in the ali- 
mentary canal. 

When, for example, a mid-day meal is 
taken, a portion of the breakfast is still in the 
small intestine. The effect of peristaltic ac- 
tivity set up by the taking of the mid-day 
meal is to cause the small intestine to rapidly 
empty itself into the colon. 

During the activity excited by luncheon 
or dinner, the residues of the breakfast, which 
have reached the colon, are gradually pushed 
farther along until at the end of eight or ten 
hours they reach the lower part of the colon. 

When the morning meal is taken, a new 
series of vigorous peristaltic waves is set in 
motion. These not only push the unusable 



THE DIGESTIVE TIME TABLE 35 

remnants of the last meal forward into the 
colon, but at the same time carry the residues 
of the breakfast to the lower part of the colon 
and thus create a desire for evacuation. This 
discharge of the unusable remnants of the 
breakfast should normally take place between 
dinner and supper or supper and bedtime. 

That this rarely occurs is doubtless the 
result of too little roughage and neglect to 
attend promptly to the call of nature. 

During the night, the residues of the last 
two meals of the day gradually work their 
way farther down and in the morning the in- 
testinal activity naturally set up by the move- 
ments of the body on rising, should result in 
the discharge before breakfast of the residues 
of the mid-day meal of the day before. In 
the same way the vigorous peristaltic activity 
awakened by the taking of breakfast should 
result in the dismissal of the residues of the 
evening meal of the previous day. 

In other words, the peristaltic wave set 
up by each meal should cause the advance- 
ment of the preceding meal from the small 
intestine into the colon, and, shortly after- 
ward, the discharge of the unused remnants 
of the next to the last meal. 



36 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

This is the normal intestinal rhythm and 
the nearer it can be approximated in actual 
experience, the better. 

The writer is convinced that the highest 
degree of health, comfort, efficiency and 
longevity, can only be obtained by maintain- 
ing such a degree of intestinal activity as will 
prevent the accumulation in the colon of pu- 
trefying food residues and other poisonous 
wastes ; for these putrefying materials contam- 
inate the blood, and, by unnecessary and ex- 
cessive work, wear out the liver, kidneys and 
other poison-destroying organs; damage the 
blood vessels by constant contact with a 
poison-laden blood current; and intoxicate 
and irritate, and ultimately render pre- 
maturely infirm and senile the body cells. 



THE DIGESTIVE TIME TABLE 



37 



Normal Itinerary of a Meal Passing Through 
the Alimentary Subway 



TIME TABLE 



Arrival 


j 




Gate 


Station 


Departure 


8:00 a.m. 


No. 

1 


1. 


Food Administrator 


Mouth 


8:30 a.m. 




No. 

1 


2, 


Inspector 








1 
No. 

i 


3. 


Food and Water 






8:30 a.m. 


1 
No. 


4. 


Stomach 


Stomach 


12:00 Noon 




■ No. 


5. 


Bowel— Pylorus 






12:00 Noon No. 


6. 


Ileo Sphincter 


Small Intestine 


4:00 p.m. 


4:00 p.m. 


No. 


7. 


Colon — Ileo Valve 


Cecum 


6:00 p.m, 


6:00 p.m. 


No. 


8. 


Reversing Gate 


Transverse Colon 


8:00 p.m. 


8:00 p.m. 


No. 


9. 


Ejector 


Pelvic Colon 


10:00 p.m. 




! Xo. 
1 


10. 


Exit 


Rectum 


10:00 p.m. 



SPECIAL NOTICES 

Train Late: Held at Stomach Station for 2 hours. Bowel 

Gate (No. 5) refused to open. 
Losing Time: Wreck at Colon Gate (No. 7). Ileocecal valve 

refuses to close, track obstructed with rubbish. 

8 hours late. 

Losing Time: Collision with heavy train backing up. 10 hours 
late. 

Losing Time: Obstruction on the track. Ejector Gate (No. 
9) refuses to open. 20 hours late. 

Losing Time: Serious obstruction. Track buried with rub- 
bish. 35 hours late. 

Train arrives at last, after clearing track with 
dynamite (castor oil), forty hours late. 
(This is the usual program when the bowels move only 

once a day or occasionally.) 



THE TEN GATES 

The study of the food gates is a new and 
highly interesting chapter in physiology which 
has been brought to light by the remarkable 
discoveries made by means of that magical 
revealer of secrets, the X-ray. 

The movement of the food along the ali- 
mentary tube is not at a regular rate. 
Numerous pauses occur. The arrangement 
is similar to that of a well organized factory, 
in which a piece of mechanism, such as a 
watch for example, is passed from one to an- 
other of a long line of experts, each of whom 
does a particular part of the work, adding a 
wheel or a pinion, or some other necessary 
part, then passing the device along to the 
next workman, who advances the work an- 
other step towards completion. 

The pauses essential for these special 
processes are secured by means of what may 
be called "gates," by which the progress of 
each morsel of food is temporarily checked 
while some special work, as of digestion, ab- 
sorption, or selection, is being accomplished. 

We are now somewhat acquainted with 



THE TEN GATES 39 

the food tube and its work, which consists 
essentially in passing the food along from one 
laboratory to another, finally gathering up 
the wastes and unusable residues and reject- 
ing them from the body. 

Let us now trace the progress of a test 
breakfast along the food tube and observe 
the ingenious devices by means of which the 
several processes are coordinated and the 
procession of body building and energy-feed- 
ing material maintained. 

Many of the most serious disorders of di- 
gestion, recent physiological research has 
shown, are the result of disturbances which 
occur at the food gates, so that it is a matter 
of very great practical interest to discover the 
relation of these gates to healthy digestion, 
and to associate the various disturbances which 
occur in conditions of disease each with its par- 
ticular gate. 

The gates are ten in number. Their loca- 
tion and relation will be readily understood 
after a glance at the accompanying diagram. 

The names of the several gates are as fol- 
lows: 

1. Entrance or Food Dictator's gate, 
the mouth. 



40 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

2. Food Inspector's gate, the soft palate. 

3. Food and Water gate. 

4. Stomach gate. 

5. The Bowel gate, Pylorus. 

6. Control gate, ileocecal sphincter. 

7. Colon gate, ileocecal valve. 

8. Reversing gate, middle of transverse 
colon. 

9. Discharging or ejector gate, pelvic 
colon. 

10. Exit gate, anus. 

FOOD GATE NO. 1 

The Entrance Gate — The Mouth 

One purpose of the entrance gate is to 
guard the food tube and to keep out of it all 
harmful substances, rejecting of course, all 
things known to be poisonous, such as alcohol 
and tobacco, as well as tea and coffee and all 
other habit-forming drugs. 

Just beneath the skin of the lips there is 
found a muscle entirely surrounding the 
mouth. This muscle is brought into strong 
action in whistling or puckering the lips. It 
normally acts with just sufficient force to 
keep the lips in contact when they are not 



THE TEN GATES 41 

open for the purpose of eating, drinking, or 
speaking. This is very necessary for main- 
taining a healthy condition of the mouth. 
When, for instance, the lower jaw drops 
down during sleep and the lips are parted, 
the air is drawn in through the mouth. The 
effect may be serious injury to the throat 
through the excessive drying of the mucous 
membrane at the back of the throat, and still 
greater injury probably results from the in- 
fection through the deposit of numerous 
germs on the surface of the tongue and 
pharynx. 

The nose, which is the natural channel for 
the air in breathing, is provided with means 
for filtering and moistening air that is lack- 
ing in the mouth. In mouth breathing, nu- 
merous bacteria and microbic forms found in 
the air are deposited upon the tongue, soft 
palate, and the tonsils, and grow rapidly 
and produce overnight a thick foul coat upon 
the tongue, a disagreeable, unpleasant tasting 
slime which covers the teeth and all parts of 
the mouth. 

On examination under a microscope this 
slime from the coating of the tongue shows 
bacteria in enormous numbers. Some of 



42 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

these are capable of living in the stomach 
when swallowed, as sometimes occurs during 
sleep, so infection may extend to the stom- 
ach and thence to the small intestine and the 
colon. These germs modern investigators 
have shown to be the cause of a large share 
of the maladies which afflict human beings in 
the civilized state, and are the cause of old 
age, as shown by Metchnikoff . In the Arctic 
region, where the air is free from germs, the 
intestines of animals are found to contain no 
bacteria. 

The character of the material which 
passes along the food tube depends absolutely 
and wholly upon the action of the entrance 
gate in accepting or rejecting the various ma- 
terials offered. The mouth is aided in its de- 
cisions by the sense of smell, by the memory 
of previous taste experiences and sometimes 
by common sense and reason. More often, 
the mouth lets in whatever is offered, or what- 
ever a perverted appetite may call for. 

Civilized people everywhere have culti- 
vated many artificial and harmful appetites 
which call for the passage through the en- 
trance gate of a multitude of substances 
which were never designed by nature to be 



THE TEN GATES 43 

eaten by human beings, as shown by the fact 
that they are not eaten by other animals be- 
longing to the same biologic class with our- 
selves, that is the higher apes. 

All horses adhere absolutely to a common 
bill of fare, that which has nourished their an- 
cestors ever since horses appeared in the ani- 
mal world. 

Man is a primate, a member of a rather 
small family of animals which possess among 
other striking and peculiar characteristics, a 
pair of hands instead of feet attached to their 
anterior limbs. Nothing could be more evi- 
dent than that man should adhere to the same 
dietary as his near relatives, the big apes, viz., 
fruits, nuts, tender green shoots, grains and 
succulent roots, adding milk and eggs. 

FOOD GATE NO. 2 

The Inspector's Gate — The Soft Palate 
and Nerves of Taste 

At the back of the mouth the palate and 
fauces combine to close the passage between 
the mouth and the pharynx, a small cavity in 
the upper part of the alimentary canal. This 
gate performs three important functions. 



44 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

1. It insures thorough mastication of the 
food. The soft palate possesses peculiar 
sensibility to contact with solid objects. When 
such an object comes in contact with the 
uvula a reflex action is at once produced, as 
the result of which the base of the tongue is 
drawn up and the object thrown forward 
into the mouth. Strong stimulation of the 
fauces produces coughing and gagging, by 
which solid materials may be projected for- 
ward with so much force as to be ejected 
from the mouth. This is the reason why it is 
difficult to swallow a pill, for which, indeed, 
some practice is necessary in the case of many 
persons. 

Now below the mouth the alimentary 
canal provides no means for the mechanical 
reduction of the food. Certain birds are 
provided with a mill lower down — the giz- 
zard, — and in some lower species of animals 
more complicated mechanisms are provided 
for grinding the food. Such animals natur- 
ally swallow their food entire, but in human 
beings, as well as in the horse and most other 
mammals, the mill is located in the mouth, 
and it is the duty of the soft palate to see that 
the food is completely ground and reduced to 




mmert-wmm 



Cross-section of Papilla from Back of Tongue 
Showing Taste Buds at A. 



THE TEN GATES 45 

a semi-liquid state before it is permitted to 
proceed further along the digestive tract. 
Thorough mastication is necessary in order 
that the saliva and the juices of the stomach 
and intestine may be readily brought into con- 
tact with every particle of food, so that each 
may do its work upon the individual food ele- 
ments promptly and completely. 

That the jaws were intended for powerful 
action is shown by the extraordinary power 
which their muscles possess. The strength of 
the bite is seldom less than eighty pounds and 
sometimes reaches two hundred and fifty 
pounds. 

2. The inspector's gate holds the food in 
the mouth long enough for the nerves of taste 
to exercise their functions. Pavlov, of 
Petrograd, discovered that the nerves of 
taste with which the food is brought in con- 
tact in the mouth, perform a most important 
function in relation to the digestion of food 
in the stomach. At the back of the tongue 
there is found an interesting arrangement by 
which the nerves of taste are brought in di- 
rect contact with dissolved particles of food. 
It is evident, however, that the food must be 
finely divided in order that such contact may 



46 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

be made. These extraordinarily sensitive taste 
nerves detect the special properties of food, 
and when stimulated, arouse the activity of 
the nerve-centers in the brain, so called 
"psychic centers," and send messages to the 
stomach, in response to which the gastric 
glands produce "appetite juice." 

The amount of appetite juice depends 
upon the extent to which the gustatory nerves 
are stimulated, and this depends wholly upon 
the thoroughness with which the food is masti- 
cated, for the flavor of the food cannot be de- 
tected by the gustatory nerves unless the food 
has been dissolved. The sweetness of a lump 
of sugar, for instance, cannot be appreciated 
until the sugar has been brought into solution. 

Nature has given to the various natural 
foods just the flavors required to stimulate 
the gustatory nerve sufficiently to cause the 
production of the proper quantity and qual- 
ity of gastric juice required to digest the 
food. In other words, when the food is swal- 
lowed in masses, as one might swallow pills 
or capsules, the flavors are swallowed with it, 
and the gustatory nerve has no opportunity 
to inspect and become acquainted with the 
food; the stomach, accordingly, receives no in- 



THE TEN GATES 47 

timation of what sort of food is coming, and 
is unprepared to receive it. 

3. Still another function of the inspector's 
gate is to regulate the quality of food. Our 
food is a complicated substance. It consists 
of combinations in various proportions of 
proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, together 
with flavoring materials and various mineral 
salts, which, while essential, play a minor 
part in nutrition. The proportion of these 
food elements is constantly varying, even in 
foodstuffs similar in character; for example, 
wheat flour consists chiefly of gluten, protein, 
and starch (a carbohydrate), but no two 
flours contain the same proportion of gluten 
and starch, and so every loaf of bread differs 
from every other loaf. Chemists can make 
an analysis by which the composition of every 
foodstuff or every particular particle of food 
may be exactly known, but such an analysis 
could not be made for every meal. 

The body requires a more reliable guide 
than can be afforded by the chemical labor- 
atory, or the most exact dietetic knowledge, 
and so we find that so long as an animal sub- 
sists upon those articles of food which are 
natural to it and normally adapted to its di- 



48 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

gestive organs and constitution, the gustatory 
nerves, cooperating with Food Gate No. 2, are 
able to meet the nutritive needs of the body 
in a manner incomparably better than could 
be done by the most astute dietitian. 

When the food is swallowed in haste with- 
out thorough mastication, there is no oppor- 
tunity for regulation. Regulation is, indeed, 
impossible. When, however, the food is mas- 
ticated thoroughly so that the gustatory 
nerves have an opportunity to inspect every 
particle of food, then regulation will be most 
complete. One who uses his palate gate nor- 
mally, eating natural food and chewing it so 
thoroughly that it may be completely tasted 
before it is swallowed, does not need to as- 
certain by means of scales or chemical 
analysis how much fat or protein or carbo- 
hydrates he is taking at a meal. He can de- 
pend with confidence upon the efficiency of 
automatic regulation through his gustatory 
nerves. 

The inspector's gate should be given a 
chance to examine the foodstuffs and its man- 
dates should be obeyed. 

When the food has been properly chewed, 
that is, brought to a soft, liquid consistency, 



THE TEN GATES 49 

it slips by the food inspector's gate so easily 
that it appears to be swallowed automatically 
and without effort. 

The nerves of the soft palate seem to pos- 
sess extraordinary wisdom in relation to the 
needs of the body and not only observe the 
way in which the food has been chewed, but 
also its various dietetic properties, and in a 
marvelously efficient way cater to the real 
needs of the body. By this means the in- 
spector gate becomes, to a very large degree, 
the regulator of the body's nutrition. 

FOOD GATE NO. 3 

The Food and Water Gate 

There are at the back of the throat two 
gates, one, the epiglottis or air gate, which 
controls the passage of air to the lungs and 
excludes water or solid substances; a second 
gate which closes the upper end of the 
esophagus or gullet and only opens for the 
passage of food and drink in swallowing, and 
excludes air from the stomach. 

The food and water gate is formed by the 
pressure of the larynx against the gullet, 
compressing it against the spinal column. 



50 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The gate is opened by the act of swallowing. 
This act is normally executed only when food 
or drink ic brought in contact with the mu- 
cous membrane of the back of the throat- 
Foreign or obnoxious substances provoke 
gagging, coughing, or choking, by which the 
objectional matters are ejected. The food 
and water gate refuses to open to receive 
them unless forced to do so by a violent effort. 

This gate thus affords important and in- 
telligent protection against injury from for- 
eign substances not intended by nature to be 
taken into the body. The protest of the gate 
is so strong that sometimes vomiting may 
be induced. Tickling the throat with the fin- 
ger or a feather is a common means of pro- 
voking vomiting when it is desirable to empty 
the stomach. 

On the other hand, the readiness with 
which wholesome foods and drinks are re- 
ceived is quite remarkable. A partial 
vacuum is maintained in the gullet just within 
the gate, by the elasticity of the lungs, so that 
the instant it is opened by the act of swallow- 
ing which lifts the larynx forward and up- 
ward and so removes the pressure on the gul- 
let, the food is drawn in instantly by the sue- 



THE TEN GATES 51 

tion, and with so much force that it is some- 
times carried nearly to the lower end of the 
gullet. This remarkable arrangement ac- 
counts for the suddenness, often very sur- 
prising, with which substances which reach 
the back of the throat are sometimes snatched 
away from voluntary control, and even when 
imperfectly masticated, so that more or less 
distress may be felt as the mass is slowly 
passed along the gullet to the stomach. 

The act of breathing is always arrested 
during the swallowing of food or liquid, this 
being necessary not only for the protection 
of the lungs, but also to prevent the entrance 
of air into the stomach with the food, since 
the opening of the esophageal gate permits 
the suction effect to operate through the esoph- 
agus as well as through the larynx. If the 
breath is strongly drawn in at the same time 
the gate is opened by swallowing, air may be 
drawn into the esophagus. After the gate is 
again closed, the air taken into the esophagus 
is gradually forced into the stomach, into 
which it enters with a characteristic sound, 
which is usually audible at a distance of some 
feet. 

Nervous persons suffering from dis- 



52 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

ordered digestion often acquire the habit of 
pumping air into the stomach in this way, a 
symptom technically termed "aerophagy." 
Horses often acquire this habit and in farm 
parlance are called "cribbers," "wind suckers/' 
or "stump suckers," for the reason that they 
forcibly seize some object with the teeth when 
swallowing air. 

Air swallowing is somewhat akin to hic- 
cough, but it is more subject to voluntary con- 
trol than is hiccough. It is induced by a feel- 
ing of fullness in the stomach which is mis- 
taken for an accumulation of gas, whereas it 
is an irritation often due to excessive acidity 
of the gastric secretions. Temporary relief 
is obtained by forcing air into the stomach, 
but soon the stomach becomes distended and 
then belching occurs, which confirms the idea 
that the trouble is due to "gas on the stom- 
ach," whereas there is usually no considerable 
amount of gas in the stomach until air has 
been swallowed. 

The disposition to swallow air should be 
restrained. 

When the unpleasant sensation is experi- 
enced, the mouth should be held widely open 
while ten deep breaths are taken. It is also 






THE TEN GATES 53 

well to drink a glassful of hot water. The 
symptom is often due to hyperacidity from 
excessive secretion of gastric acid, which 
should be relieved by the proper measures. 

FOOD GATE NO. 4 

The Stomach Gate 

At the lower end of the gullet is a circular 
muscle which surrounds the tube and tightly 
closes the gullet after food has passed through 
it into the stomach. When food coming 
down the gullet approaches the stomach gate, 
the muscle relaxes; that is, the gate opens to 
allow the food to pass into the stomach, then 
instantly closes. 

This circular muscle sometimes becomes 
relaxed to such a degree that portions of food 
may be forced back into the esophagus by 
movements of the stomach, and thus find their 
way back to the mouth. This usually happens 
when the contents of the stomach are too 
highly acid, because of the excessive secretion 
of hydrochloric acid by the gastric glands. In 
some persons the muscle appears to be weak- 
ened and relaxed through the habit of drink- 



54 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

ing large quantities of warm water, which 
produce nausea and regurgitation, or even by 
vomiting as the result of tickling the throat 
with the finger or a feather. 

Eructations of gas from the stomach are 
usually due to the fact that the cardiac orifice, 
or upper stomach gate, is not sufficiently 
strong to resist the violent movements of the 
stomach induced by an excess of acid in the 
stomach and resulting too tight closure of 
the pylorus. When the stomach is in a state 
of inflammation, and ulceration exists in the 
upper part of the stomach, this gate becomes 
abnormally sensitive and pain is experienced 
after the swallowing of food or drink, due to 
the passage of the food over the irritated sur- 
faces. 

FOOD GATE NO. 5 

The Bowel Gate — the Pylorus 

This is a most remarkable structure. It 
consists of a circular muscle which surrounds 
the food tube at the point of junction between 
the stomach and the small intestine. From 
the most ancient times some knowledge of the 
function of the pylorus has existed, hence its 



THE TEN GATES 55 

Greek name, which translated into English is 
simply gate keeper. 

This, of all the gateways through which 
the food passes, has been the subject of the 
greatest amount of study, but it is only within 
recent years that the function of the pylorus 
has been properly understood. 

The pylorus inspects the digesting food- 
stuffs, opening at proper intervals to allow 
the passage into the bowel of such portions 
of the food as have been prepared by the 
stomach for the more complete digestion in 
the small intestine. 

A very interesting point about this gate 
is the manner of its closing or control. When 
the stomach is empty, the gate remains open. 
This is also true in cases in which the stom- 
ach has through disease lost the power of 
making gastric juice, so-called cases of 
achylia. 

Water or other liquids with a tempera- 
ture near that of the body when taken into 
the stomach quickly flow out through the py- 
lorus into the intestine. The normal position 
of the stomach is known to be perpendicular, 
obviously to facilitate the downward move- 
ment of the liquid contents. 



56 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

When, however, food is taken into the 
stomach, even while it is still undergoing mas- 
tication in the mouth, the acid gastric juice 
entering the duodenum causes the pylorus 
to contract. This closure of the lower food 
gate is necessary to cause the retention of 
the food in the stomach until it has been 
acted upon by the saliva and gastric juice, 
and thus prepared for the digestive processes 
which later on take place along the alimen- 
tary canal at certain intervals. 

In normal persons, when the acid contents 
of the stomach begin to pass out into the 
small intestine, a reflex action occurs which 
closes the pylorus. The contact of the acid 
with the mucous membrance causes contrac- 
tion and closure of the pylorus which con- 
tinues until the gastric acid has been neutral- 
ized by the alkaline bile and pancreatic juice, 
then the pylorus relaxes and lets out into the 
intestine another small quantity of gastric 
contents. 

By this wonderful arrangement the food 
which has undergone digestion in the stomach 
is doled out into the intestine in very small por- 
tions, a provision entirely in harmony with the 
now known fact that this function is chiefly 



THE TEN GATES 57 

preparatory, the complete and finished work 
of digestion being accomplished only in the 
intestine. 

The stomach was formerly supposed to be 
the chief organ of digestion. It is now known 
that this idea was erroneous. The stomach is 
a highly useful organ, but not essential. In 
many cases practically the whole stomach has 
been removed in cases of cancer involving a 
large part of the organ, and a considerable 
number of persons have lived in this condi- 
tion for years in comfortable health. 

Numerous digestive disorders may be 
traced to the pyloric gate, through which all 
foodstuffs must pass before they can take 
part in the nutrition of the body. When the 
contents of the stomach become excessively 
acid, the pylorus contracts so forcibly that the 
digested portions of the food are not passed 
on. but are retained in the stomach. This is 
a difficulty which serves to aggravate itself. 
A vicious circle is formed. The excessive 
acidity of the gastric contents causes too long 
a retention of the foodstuffs in the stomach, 
and the long delay of food in the stomach 
irritates the gastric glands, causing an ab- 
normal secretion of acid. Thus, the difficulty 



58 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

once begun tends to become worse. The 
stomach muscles contract with increased vigor 
as the acidity increases, and not infrequently 
the movements become so violent that a por- 
tion of the acid contents of the stomach is 
forced upward through the esophagus into 
the mouth, giving rise to eructations of gas, 
and even liquid or solid food materials, ac- 
companied by a burning pain. Here we 
have the explanation of so-called "heartburn," 
which has been erroneously attributed to fer- 
mentation in the stomach — a rare condition. 
There are thus many causes which may 
disturb the passage of food through the py- 
loric gate, all of which give rise to serious dis- 
turbances of the digestive processes. Many 
chronic dyspeptics suffer from some of these 
conditions, which, however, in most cases can- 
not be remedied by the use of drugs or in- 
ternal remedies of any sort, since the obstruc- 
tion is due to spasm of the pylorus, the result 
of excessive acid secretion by the stomach. 
Regulation of the diet and other proper modes 
of treatment will almost certainly give relief. 
In cases in which the stomach is prolapsed, 
the restoration of the stomach to its normal 
place and the use of a suitable bandage will 



THE TEN GATES 59 

often secure very great improvement. It is 
not possible to say in many cases just which 
one of various causes exists, without a thor- 
ough examination of the stomach by means of 
a test meal and careful chemical examination 
of gastric contents, together with an X-ray 
bismuth meal examination, by means of which 
the stomach may be clearly outlined and its 
movements, together with its location and the 
action of the pylorus, clearly seen. 

X-ray examinations have clearly estab- 
lished the fact that in a great number of cases, 
distress and other symptoms attributed to the 
stomach are due to causes outside of the stom- 
ach altogether. For example, gall stones, in- 
flammation of the gallbladder, ulcer of the 
duodenum, and inflammation of the pancreas, 
and even infection of the appendix and colitis, 
often give rise to gastric pain and other dis- 
turbances of the stomach. These extrinsic dis- 
orders constitute possibly one-half of all gas- 
tric cases. These cases are, in fact, so common, 
it may be regarded as a very wise and helpful 
procedure to submit every case of chronic gas- 
tric disease to a critical X-ray examination by 
the aid of the "barium meal," in addition to 
the ordinary gastric test meal. 



60 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

One of the functions of the acid gastric 
juice is to cause closure of the pylorus and 
regulation of the action of this remarkable 
structure in "spooning" the food from the 
stomach into the intestine. In cases in which 
the gastric glands have degenerated so that 
no hydrochloric acid is produced, the pylorus 
remains open. In cancer of the stomach and 
in certain cases of ulceration of the stomach, 
the disease may be located in such a position as 
to prevent the normal closure of the pylorus. 
Similar conditions are sometimes produced 
by adhesions of the pylorus to the liver or gall 
bladder, a result of inflammation of the gall 
ducts or gall bladder. 

A relaxed condition of the pylorus gate 
that prevents its proper closure may be a 
cause of serious disturbance. When this con- 
dition is present, bile frequently flows back 
into the stomach, especially when the stomach 
is prolapsed. The food passes out of the 
stomach so quickly that the w r ork of the stom- 
ach upon the food is not properly performed, 
and in consequence digestion in the intestines 
is deranged. In such cases a movement of the 
bowels sometimes occurs within a half hour 
after eating, discharging food of the last meal. 



THE TEN GATES 61 

FOOD GATE NO. 6 

The Food Control Gate — The 
Ileocecal Sphincter 

A muscular ring much like the pylorus 
surrounds the lower end of the small intestine. 
This structure, the ileocecal sphincter, per- 
forms very much the same function as the py- 
lorus. The pylorus holds the food in the 
stomach until gastric digestion is completed 
and the food prepared for intestinal digestion. 
The ileocecal sphincter holds the food in the 
small intestine until the work of digestion is 
completed and the digested food stuffs ab- 
sorbed. The matters passed into the colon by 
the sphincter are the undigested and unused 
or unusable food remnants and wastes, along 
with a considerable amount of water (90%) 
and very small amounts of digested or partly 
digested foodstuffs, with mucus and certain 
excretory substances eliminated by the liver 
in the bile, and by the intestinal mucous mem- 
brane. 

If this gate did not exist, the liquid food- 
stuffs which leave the stomach would pass 
rapidly through the whole food tube and 



62 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

would be discharged before opportunity had 
been given for absorption. 

The intelligent and efficient regulation of 
the flow of waste matters into the colon, is 
highly essential for the proper nutrition of the 
body and render this little muscle wholly de- 
serving of the very honorable title of food con- 
troller or control gate. 

FOOD GATE NO. 7. 
The Colon Gate or the Ileocecal Valve. 

This is a very simple and at the same time 
an exceedingly important and interesting 
structure. The ileocecal valve was discovered 
and described by anatomists more than 300 
years ago (1579 A. D.) . The discoverers rec- 
ognized at once the fact that this curious 
structure was designed to act as a check valve, 
that is, a gate opening in but one direction. 

Modern anatomical studies have shown that 
all animals possessed of a backbone, that is, 
all vertebrate animals, are furnished with an 
ileocecal valve. 

This gate is necessary for two highly im- 
portant reasons. First, to maintain a definite 
and steady forward movement of the intes- 



THE TEN GATES 63 

tinal contents; and second, to prevent the re- 
turn into the small intestine of waste and 
excretory matters after they have been re- 
jected by the small intestine and pushed into 
the colon to be cast out of the body as refuse. 

The importance of this wise provision of 
nature grows out of the fact that the waste 
matters passed into the colon very readily 
take on putrefactive processes and thus be- 
come highly offensive and poisonous. 

The colon is provided with means of de- 
fense against these poisons and is thus pre- 
pared to serve the purpose of a sewer for the 
body without serious injury either to itself 
or the body. But this is not true of the small 
intestine with its highly delicate mucous mem- 
brane and exceedingly active absorbing 
structures. The result, in fact, when foul, 
putrefying fecal matters enter the small in- 
testine from the colon, is not much different 
from what might be expected if feces were 
mixed with the food and taken in by the 
mouth. The small intestine not only rapidly 
absorbs the poisonous matters but becomes in- 
fected by the virulent bacteria which are 
present. 

The infection travels upward and may 



64 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

reach the gall bladder, causing inflammation 
and gall-stones or disease of the pancreas and 
may cause ulcer of the stomach or duodenum. 

More common results of the entrance of 
fecal matters into the small intestine are at- 
tacks of headache, skin eruptions, depression, 
nervous exhaustion, asthmatic attacks, so- 
called "bilious" attacks, a coated tongue and 
bad breath and probably chronic disease of 
the blood vessels, heart, kidneys and other 
vital organs. 

All these and other troubles follow when 
the colon gate fails to shut through becom- 
ing incompetent, a condition which often re- 
sults from chronic constipation, as will be 
shown later on. 

The action of the colon gate is very 
simple. It is in fact quite mechanical in its 
action. The valve consists of two mem- 
branous lips which project into the colon 
from the borders of the junction of the small 
intestine with the colon. When matters pass 
from the small intestine into the colon, the 
lips separate, offering no resistance to the for- 
ward movement. But when the slightest back 
pressure occurs with a movement of matters 
toward the small intestine, the lips fall to- 



THE TEN GATES 65 

gether and form an impassable barrier. In 
other words, the colon gate is highly efficient 
as a check valve. 

This is true, however, only when the 
valve is intact. It is apparently more liable 
to injury and derangement than any other of 
the several gates which regulate the move- 
ment of material along the food tube. When 
waste matters are allowed to accumulate in 
the lower half of the colon, which occurs in all 
cases of constipation, the right half of the 
colon is over-filled with feces and over-dis- 
tended with gases, and the csecum in time be- 
comes dilated and pouched and the colon gate 
is so damaged that it does not close. 

The foul fecal matters in the colon pass 
back into the small intestine and all the seri- 
ous consequences which have been traced to 
autointoxication or intestinal toxemia are the 
natural consequence. 

It is quite possible that more human suf- 
fering, physical and mental, has resulted from 
the breaking down of the colon gate than 
from any other common injury. 

The chief cause of injury to the colon gate 
is constipation, a disease which is practically 
universal among civilized human beings, and 



66 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

equally universal among house dogs. "House- 
broken" dogs are usually constipated, and for 
the same reason as their house-broken masters, 
viz., voluntary interference with the normal, 
rhythmical and automatic action of the food 
tube by which its contents are moved along 
and unusable residues rejected. More will 
be said on this phase of the subject later. 

By appropriate diet and treatment, the 
evil effects of incompetency of the ileocecal 
valve may be very largely overcome and a 
radical cure may be effected by means of a 
simple and safe but somewhat delicate opera- 
tion. 

FOOD GATE NO. 8 

The Reversing Gate 

Near the middle of the transverse colon 
there is located a remarkable structure which 
originates rhythmical movements in the intes- 
tine just as a similar nerve structure near the 
heart produces the regular beating of the 
heart. 

A most remarkable characteristic of the 
movements starting at the middle of the 
transverse colon is the fact that they extend 



THE TEN GATES 67 

in both directions. That is, a series of con- 
traction waves moves forward toward the 
exit while another series moves at the same 
time in the opposite direction, toward the 
caecum. These latter, known as antiperistal- 
tic waves, hold the liquid wastes in the caecum 
until a large part of the water which they 
contain has been absorbed. This reduces the 
volume of the feces and secures periodical 
emptying of the colon instead of continuous 
or very frequent discharge of the thin liquid 
matters which enter the colon from the small 
intestine. 

At intervals the antiperistaltic waves cease 
and the contents of the caecum and ascending 
colon are pushed forward by strong contrac- 
tions of the caecum. That portion which 
reaches a point far enough beyond the center 
of the transverse colon to be caught in the out- 
going current is carried on to the exit; but a 
considerable portion does not reach this point 
and is swept back into the caecum by the anti- 
peristaltic waves. 

The action of the antiperistaltic waves 
brings pressure against the colon gate, the 
ileocecal valve. A normal valve easily resists 
the pressure and prevents the antiperistaltic 



68 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

waves from forcing fecal matters back into 
the small intestine. But when the valve has 
been broken down and rendered incompetent 
by chronic constipation, nothing hinders the 
reflux into the small intestine produced by the 
antiperistaltic contractions which are almost 
constantly active in the right half of the colon, 
especially during and for some time after a 
meal. 

When fecal matters accumulate in the 
lower half of the colon, the antiperistaltic ac- 
tion is much increased. This is also true in 
case of colitis and after the use of laxative 
or cathartic drugs. 

FOOD GATE NO. 9 

The Discharging or Ejector Gate 
— The Pelvic Colon 

Here is another most interesting gate 
which is charged with a highly important 
function, the periodical discharge of the food 
residues and other wastes. 

The Pelvic Colon is the loop of the large 
intestine which joins the rectum. It is not 
closely attached to the abdominal wall as are 
the descending and the iliac colon, but has a 



THE TEN GATES 69 

long mesentery (the membrane by which it 
is attached to the back of the abdominal cav- 
ity). This arrangement permits considerable 
freedom of movement. The bowel falls down 
collapsed after a bowel movement, then 
gradually rises as it fills and when sufficiently 
distended pushes some of its contents into 
the rectum and so evokes the act of defecation. 
In this way the pelvic colon operates a 
periodical discharging process, an automatic 
"dumping" or ejection of the body wastes, 
and so may be very properly termed the dis- 
charging or ejector gate. As we shall see 
later, this important gate is sometimes 
crippled so that it does not operate efficiently. 
When fallen down after defecation, it be- 
comes caught and may even become adherent 
so that it cannot rise and thus the discharg- 
ing apparatus of the colon is thrown out of 
commission and a very obstinate form of con- 
stipation is the result. Fortunately the diffi- 
culty may be radically remedied by an appro- 
priate surgical operation. In most cases pal- 
liative measures give practical relief. 



70 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

FOOD GATE NO. 10 

The Exit Gate — the Anus 

The anal sphincter is controlled by nerve 
centers which maintain it in a state of con- 
stant contraction except during bowel move- 
ment. When an expulsion wave travels down 
the pelvic colon, the center controlling the 
anal sphincter causes it to relax so that it 
offers no resistance to the discharge of the 
bowel contents. 

The presence of hemorrhoids, ulcer, fis- 
sure, catarrh of the rectum, and other causes 
may so irritate the anal muscle that it will 
contract with too great vigor, or even spasm 
may be produced, and thus a "tight sphincter' ' 
may become a cause of constipation by closing 
the exit gate so tightly that it will not open 
under the stimulus of the normal reflex. It 
is possible that ovarian, bladder, prostatic 
and other pelvic disorders may cause anal 
contraction and so oppose normal bowel 
movement. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 

We are all born wild. 

Civilization is a process of taming and is 
often so overdone as to become destructive. 

No other animal except the house-dog suf- 
fers from constipation as does man; and the 
dog suffers from colon troubles for the same 
reason the man does, namely, because he is 
"house-broken." 

The wild man and the wild dog, as well as 
man's nearest relatives, the big apes, of the 
African jungles, know nothing of the miseries 
of constipation, colon stasis, or constipation, 
a product of civilization. It is the result 
of perverted habits, neglect, and pernicious 
training and education. 

The civilized colon is a poor cripple, 
maimed, misshapen, overstretched in parts, 
contracted in other parts, prolapsed, ad- 
herent, "kinked," infected, paralyzed, ineffi- 
cient, incompetent. It is the worst abused 
and the most variously damaged of any organ 
of the body. 

Before the advent of the X-ray, no one 



72 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

had more than a suspicion of the sad condition 
of the poor colon. It was known to be gen- 
erally inefficient, but this was charged to in- 
ertia, a sort of constitutional laziness rather 
than to definite disease or structural damage. 

But the X-ray, that marvelous revealer 
of secrets, has given us a look inside and has 
revealed a state of depravity in the colon 
never dreamed of. In the light of modern 
X-ray revelations, the colon appears to have 
more different and serious things the matter 
with it than any other fcodily organ. 

Now that the X-ray has made clear to us 
the physiology of the colon and has shown us 
the numerous deformities and incompetences 
of the average civilized colon, thanks to the 
exhaustive studies of Cannon, Hirsch, Case, 
and other roentgenologists, we have come to 
know that constipation is not a simple disease 
but is instead, a highly complex condition or 
rather a symptom which may result from a 
very considerable number of clearly defined 
diseased conditions and combinations of con- 
ditions. 




8:00-9:00 A. M. 
Breakfast (blue) just Eaten. 




12:00 Noon 

Breakfast (blue), four hours after eating, has reached 
lower end of small intestine and ileocecal sphincter. Diges* 
tion and absorption of food are completed, and the unusable 
residue is ready to be passed into the colon. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 73 

Normal Bowel Action 

Evacuation of the bowels is the result of 
two forces acting upon the bowel contents, 
viz.: 

( 1 Compression of the bowels by the ab- 
dominal walls and the diaphragm. 

(2) Contraction of the bowel itself. 

In natural bowel movement the squatting 
position is assumed. In this position the 
pressure of the thighs upon the abdomen com- 
presses the bowel. At the same time the dia- 
phragm is forced downward by a deep, pro- 
longed breath and the abdominal muscles are 
voluntarily contracted. 

These are the preliminary movements 
which precede actual evacuation. They often 
fail, and usually do in cases of marked con- 
stipation. Under normal conditions, however, 
evacuation quickly follows the preliminary ef- 
forts through actions set up by the defecating 
center. When the voluntary efforts result in 
forcing fecal matter from the pelvic colon into 
the rectum, a new series of movements begin. 
The presence of feces in the rectum sets up a 
reflex nerve action through the defecating 
center by which the abdominal muscles are 



74 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

made to contract with greater force, the colon 
itself contracts either in part or in its entirety, 
the anus relaxes, and finally the levator ani, a 
muscle attached to the rectal walls, contracts 
in such a manner as to insure complete empty- 
ing of the rectum. 

This normal bowel movement should leave 
the rectum and at least the left half of the 
colon, completely empty. And this complete 
emptying should take place after every meal 
for the reason that after each meal the unused 
residues of the preceding meal but one, are 
normally deposited in the pelvic colon ready' 
to be dismissed from the body. That is, the 
discharge gate or dumping device of the colon 
is loaded and ought to be "dumped." There 
is no possible benefit to be derived from re- 
taining the excretory and unusable residues, 
and if retained they do harm through the 
absorption of putrefaction poisons which are 
thus produced. Besides, these wastes are the 
best sort of soil for the growth of highly active 
pathological or disease-producing species of 
germs, streptococci and other pus forming 
germs which attach themselves to the wall of 
the bowel and set up that very serious and 
very common disease, colitis. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 75 

Hindrances to Normal Bowel Action 

Now that we know how the bowels should 
move, let us see what causes interfere with 
normal bowel action, that is, let us seek an 
answer to the question, Why is the civilized 
man unable to evacuate his bowels three or 
four times daily or after each meal, as does 
the savage or the semi-civilized man and our 
near relatives in the family of primates, the 
orang and the chimpanzee? 

There are many causes, chief of which, 
perhaps, are the following, referred to in the 
order in which they operate rather than their 
relative importance: 

1. The Sitting Posture: The savage 
evacuates in a crouching or squatting position. 
Semi-civilized people and the peasantry of 
civilized nations do the same. In the homes of 
the poor classes and in country inns and even 
in the small city hotels of France and Italy, as 
well as countries farther East, the toilet con- 
veniences consist simply of a hole in the floor 
and a large pipe connecting it with a recep- 
tacle below. 

The toilet seat which civilization has pro- 
vided as more elegant and convenient, has 



76 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

proved to be a prolific cause of constipation 
with all its miseries and inconveniences 
through loss of the thigh pressure against the 
abdomen, one of the important initial efforts 
in bowel movement. 

It is not necessary to return to the primi- 
tive form of toilet convenience, but toilet seats 
should be low and should have a backward 
slope. An efficient remedy for the defects of 
the ordinary closet seat is found in placing 
before the seat a stool about eight inches high 
to support the feet. 

2. Weak Abdominal Muscles: A seden- 
tary life, general lack of muscular develop- 
ment, and especially the "slumped" or 
"stooped" position in sitting and working, re- 
sult in a weak and relaxed condition of the 
abdominal muscles so that they are not able 
to do their part in pushing forward the con- 
tents of the lower colon into the rectum and 
thus starting the automatic process by which 
the colon itself contracts and empties itself. 
This condition is practically universal among 
civilized women because of their mode of dress 
and deficient muscular activity. Professional 
men, clerks, students, bookkeepers and fac- 
tory workers suffer from the same cause. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 77 

One very serious result of weakness of the 
abdominal muscles is the prolapse of the 
colon, stomach, liver and other heavy organs 
of the abdomen. While it is true, as shown 
in recent years, that these organs are able to 
do their work quite efficiently even though 
prolapsed, great mischief results from the fact 
that in falling they drag down with them the 
diaphragm, the great muscle which forms the 
floor of the chest and is the great air pump of 
the body. In doing its work the diaphragm 
rises and falls. The broader its swing the 
greater the amount of air moved. 

When held down by prolapsed viscera, the 
diaphragm cannot rise high into the chest as 
it should and consequently the lungs cannot 
be well emptied. 

On the other hand, not being able to rise 
properly, it has not room for downward 
movement, and so the low-standing diaphragm 
not only fails to fill the lungs but also fails to 
do its part in emptying the bowels. So per- 
sons with weak abdominal muscles easily get 
out of breath and are constipated. 

Weak abdominal muscles may be made 
strong by such exercises as raising both legs 
while lying on the back, repeating the move- 



78 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

ment thirty or forty times morning and night. 
The chest must be held high so as to keep the 
abdominal muscles stretched to their full 
length and thus afford them an opportunity 
for action. This requires constant attention 
to posture when at work and the use of a 
chair which properly supports the hollow of 
the back and holds the chest up when the body 
is relaxed. 

Deep breathing, wearing a spring ab- 
dominal supporter, exercises with the head 
low (inclined plane exercises) and the use of 
the weighted compress, are the means by 
which this cause of constipation may be com- 
bated. 

Vigorous bodily exercises of all sorts, in- 
cluding walking, and especially hill climbing 
and such sports as golf, volley ball, lawn ten- 
nis, rowing and swimming, are excellent aids 
to bowel action. It should be remarked, how- 
ever, that the excessive perspiration produced 
by vigorous exercise tends to cause constipa- 
tion. 

The importance of the above named faulty 
habits as causes of constipation will be appre- 
ciated only when it is remembered that in 
health the rectum is always empty. The pel- 



r 




1:00 P. M. 

Breakfast Residue (blue) is passing into the Colon. 
Dinner (red), just eaten, is in the Stomach. 




5:00 P. M. 

Breakfast Residue (blue) all in Colon. Dinner Residue (red) 
Ready to enter Colon. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 79 

vie loop which lies just above the rectum is the 
end of the colon reservoir. In normal de- 
fecation the fecal matters are pushed for- 
ward from the colon into the rectum by vol- 
untary effort. When this fails, the feces re- 
main in the colon and in time become hard 
and dry by the absorption of moisture. When 
this stage is reached the feces can not be 
pushed along by compression of the bowels 
and an enema or a laxative is required to 
empty the colon. If the retention and drying 
is less prolonged, the result is the so-called 
"well-formed stool/' which is positive proof 
of constipation as it can only be produced by 
retention and drying of the colon contents. 
The "well-formed stool" has become almost 
a fetish with many persons, even some doctors. 
A western doctor actually advises his patients 
to resist a disposition to bowel movement in 
the evening, "to save it 'till morning" so as 
to secure a well-formed stool. Such notions 
are based upon ignorance. Nature's sugges- 
tion of the need of bowel movement should 
never be resisted or thwarted except in emer- 
gency and when unavoidable. 

3. A Concentrated Diet: The human 
food tube is adapted to a rather coarse and 



80 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

bulky diet, less coarse and bulky than that 
of the herbivorous animals, such as the ox and 
the goat, but much more bulky than that of 
the dog, cat and other carnivora. This is 
shown by the long alimentary canal and capa- 
cious colon. The intestine of the sheep is 
thirty times its body length, that of the cat 
only three and a half times, and that of the 
shark merely the length of the body, simply 
a straight tube with a single short loop. 

The human food tube is ten times the 
length of the body, and the colon is of large 
proportions. In animals the diet of which is 
very concentrated, the colon almost disap- 
pears. 

Man is a primate, that is a relative of the 
chimpanzee, orang and gorilla. These ani- 
mals, like man, have intestines eight to ten 
times the body length, and their diet con- 
sists of bulky foodstuffs, nuts, fruits, tender 
shoots, juicy roots, and other vegetable foods. 
This is the natural diet of man, the diet of 
his primitive ancestors. 

A bulky diet of this sort stimulates the 
movements of the intestine and so moves along 
so rapidly that there is little drying out and 
not sufficient time for putrefactive changes. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 81 

Such a diet also insures a sufficient amount 
of indigestible material to distend the colon 
and keep its several gates in active and efficient 
operation. 

When the diet is concentrated, leaving 
little residue, the residue packs firmly to- 
gether, adheres to the intestine wall, gets 
caught in folds, and by retention becomes 
highly putrescent and contaminates the blood. 

Another still more serious difficulty arises. 
As already explained, the pelvic loop, the dis- 
charging gate of the colon, collapses and falls 
down in the pelvis after discharging its con- 
tents. The pelvic loop remains prolapsed un- 
til it is lifted by filling. If it does not fill it 
does not rise and hence does not discharge, 
and the bowels do not move. If the food resi- 
dues are so small that two days are required 
to supply material enough to fill the pelvic 
loop, then the bowel movement will occur only 
every other day. A water wheel will not turn 
without water ; the colon will not act normally 
without the stimulus of roughage. A bulky 
food residue is necessary to fill and raise the 
pelvic loop so that it can discharge its contents. 

The more bulky the diet, the more rapidly 
the pelvic colon will fill and the more fre- 



82 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

quently the bowels will move. The more fre- 
quent the movements, the less putrefaction and 
hence the less autointoxication, as shown by 
absence of headache, depression, coated tongue, 
foul breath, dingy complexion, skin troubles, 
chronic weariness, etc., etc. 

Cellulose is the only indigestible element 
of the diet. Cellulose is the basis of wood; 
cotton is pure cellulose. Bran consists very 
largely of cellulose. 

Starch, fat, protein, — the food materials 
furnished by milk, eggs, meat, fine flour 
bread, sugar, potatoes, and most of the break- 
fast foods, are completely digestible and ab- 
sorbable. They disappear in the small intes- 
tine leaving no residue to fill and distend the 
colon and stimulate it to action. The small 
residues from such foods fail to fill the pelvic 
colon often enough to maintain frequent bowel 
action. 

It is thus evident that we have but one 
alternative; we must choose our bills of 
fare from the coarse products on which our 
primitive ancestors subsisted and on which 
our forest cousins still live, or we must add to 
our ordinary diet sufficient indigestible cellu- 
lose to supply the bulk required. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 83 

Convenient forms of cellulose are bran 
and agar-agar, or Japanese isinglass, a pe- 
culiar form of cellulose obtained from a sea 
weed which grows on the coast of Japan. One 
or the other of these products or combinations 
of the two, must be added to every meal to in- 
sure its expeditious transit along the food 
tube. 

The idea that bran is irritating is a perni- 
cious error. Wet bran is like wet paper, it 
does not and can not irritate. Bran does not 
irritate the mucous membrane of the mouth. 
The mucous membrane of the stomach and 
intestine are no more sensitive nor delicate 
than is that of the mouth. These membranes 
are, in fact, less sensitive and less liable to in- 
jury than is the mouth mucosa. 

Bran does not irritate, it titillates. The 
tongue keeps at work after a meal until every 
particle of food has been gathered up and dis- 
posed of. In like manner the stomach and the 
intestine keep at work until each little particle 
of bran has been passed along toward the exit. 

4. A High Protein Diet. — By a high- 
protein diet is meant a diet which contains an 
excess of the nitrogenous element of the food. 
Practically, such a diet will consist largely of 



84 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

flesh food, though an excess of protein may 
be taken in the form of eggs, or even in such 
foods as beans or certain varieties of nuts. 

Man is by nature a low protein feeder. 
He belongs to a nut and fruit eating tribe, 
the primates, along with the orang and the 
chimpanzee. Carnivorous or flesh-eating ani- 
mals have short intestines and especially very 
short colons. 

The short intestine of the flesh eating ani- 
mal is necessary to prevent the long retention 
of undigested food residues. Putrefaction de- 
velops very rapidly at the temperature of the 
body. A bit of dead flesh in a wound soon 
acquires a very unpleasant odor. Even frag- 
ments of food left in the mouth in a few hours 
taint the breath with decomposition products. 
In the colon, these putrefaction changes take 
place much more rapidly, because of the pres- 
ence of active putrefaction germs and the de- 
gree of warmth and moisture which especially 
favor putrefaction. 

But some kinds of food do not putrefy. 

Practically, meat and eggs are about the only 

foods that undergo putrefaction or decay. 

Milk, cereals, vegetables, fruits, ferment, but 

I do not putrefy. The products of fermenta- 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 85 

tion are acids, chiefly lactic acid, which is non- 
poisonous, and even serves a useful purpose 
in preventing by its presence the growth of 
putrefaction germs and hence the decay of 
putrescible substances. A raw beefsteak will 
not decay when immersed in buttermilk or 
fruit juice. Sugar is a well-known preserv- 
ative. 

The acids formed by the fermentation of 
the residues of vegetable foodstuffs in the 
colon are the natural stimulants of the colon, 
an interesting fact pointed out many years 
ago by the eminent specialist, Prof. Ad. 
Schmidt. When the fermentation is excess- 
ive, it may even give rise to looseness of the 
bowels as in some forms of diarrhea, in which 
a strong sour smell is present, common in in- 
fants. 

On the other hand, putrefaction has ex- 
actly the opposite effect. The ammonia and 
various ptomaines and other poisons produced 
by the decay of meat, paralyze the colon and 
so cause constipation. 

It is practically impossible to cure consti- 
pation so long as putrefaction is active in the 
colon. It should be remembered that in latent 
constipation there may be regular bowel 




86 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

movements, but the colon is never emptied. 
The daily evacuations represent simply the 
overflow of an over-distended colon filled 
with decaying and highly poisonous and of- 
fensive food residues. 

Undigested fragments of decaying flesh 
are always found in the colon of meat-eaters 
and supply the best possible soil for the luxu- 
riant growth of disease producing germs. In- 
deed, the germs which cause putrefaction, the 
colon bacillus, Welch's bacillus, B. putrificus 
and other putrefactive organisms, are all 
poison-forming and disease-producing germs. 
They cause inflammation, suppuration, ab- 
cess, gangrene, and death when their growth 
is unchecked. These very germs are the cause 
of colitis, the almost universal accompaniment 
of chronic constipation. 

Colitis causes spasm or contraction of the 
lower half of the colon and exaggerated anti- 
peristalsis, that is, reversed action of the colon, 
so that putrid fecal matters accumulate in the 
csecum, overstretch this part of the colon, and 
produce appendicitis, incompetency of the ileo- 
cecal valve and autointoxication. 

It is evident, then, that the flesh-eating 
habits of Americans must be one of the great 




6:00 P. M. 

Breakfast Residue (blue) mostly 

Dinner Residue (Red) passing 

with Breakfast Residue. 



eaten (yellow). 



in Descending Colon, 
into Colon, mixing 
Supper just 




9:00 P. M. 

Breakfast Residue (blue) mostly in Pelvic Colon ready to 

be discharged. Dinner residue (red) in Right Halt 01 

Colon. Supper Residue (yellow) nearly 

ready to enter Colon. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 87 

causes of the universal constipation which has 
become a national curse and perhaps the 
greatest cause of national inefficiency and phy- 
sical unpreparedness. 

5. Reduced Quantity of Food. A reduc- 
tion of the quantity of food eaten lessens the 
bulk of the residue and so leads to constipa- 
tion. Fasting, or even the omission of a meal 
interrupts bowel movement. Hence the need 
of regularity in diet. Meals must not be 
omitted. If there is lack of appetite or no 
time for the regular meal, fruit should be 
taken with bran or agar-agar and paraffin oil 
to keep up the normal rhythm, and to prevent 
a blockade in the lower colon. 

An extra meal of fruit is an undoubted aid 
to bowel action. An orange or an apple eaten 
at bedtime is often effective in aiding the ad- 
vance of the food residues so that a good 
evacuation is secured on rising the next morn- 
ing. The activity of the colon is four times as 
great during the eating of food, doubtless be- 
cause of the stimulating effect of food upon 
the controlling nerve centers through the gus- 
tatory nerves. 

Even a glass or two of cold water at bed 
time and on rising has a similar effect. Water 



88 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

causes the secretion of gastric juice and ex- 
cites peristaltic waves and thus aids the prog- 
ress of waste along the colon. 

Horace Fletcher's Mistake 

6. It is evident that long chewing of the 
food must tend to aid bowel action, and that 
hasty eating has the opposite effect. It must 
be remarked, however, that by thorough mas- 
tication we do not refer to the mode of eating 
known as Fletcherizing. Mr. Fletcher urged 
that the food should be well masticated and 
in this many old writers as well as modern 
authorities are in accord with him. The writer 
has urged the same for more than forty years. 
But Mr. Fletcher also insisted that all mate- 
rials which could not be reduced to a liquid in 
the mouth should be rejected. That is, he ex- 
cluded roughage entirely from his dietary, 
thinking it a virtue to reduce the quantity of 
food residues to the smallest limit possible as 
a measure of economy, even to the extent of 
one or two bowel movements weekly. In this 
Mr. Fletcher was greatly in error. He evi- 
dently overlooked the fact that the body 
wastes which are eliminated by way of the 
colon are only in small part composed of food 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 89 

wastes, the greater and more important con- 
sisting of bile, a highly poisonous excretion, 
mucus, and special excretory products which 
are normally eliminated by way of the large 
intestine. 

The writer labored very earnestly with 
Mr. Fletcher personally on many occasions to 
convince him of his error, and at last accounts 
he seems to have in some degree corrected the 
error as far as his own personal habits are con- 
cerned, but so far as the writer knows, he has 
made no attempt to correct or counteract the 
teaching of his books and lectures in which con- 
stipation was made to appear as a physiologic 
virtue, an evidence of "economy of nutrition." 

This was the rock on which Fletcherism 
split and went to pieces as a system. It must 
not be forgotten, however, that Mr. Fletcher 
made a contribution to the science of nutrition 
of priceless value in compelling by his earnest 
and active propaganda and his tactful promo- 
tion among scientific men and physiologists, 
recognition of the low protein idea in diet. He 
went farther and contributed not only much 
time, but many thousands of dollars to en- 
courage scientific investigation of the question 
of the protein ration. 



90 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The famous research of Chittenden which 
demonstrated the great advantages of low 
protein feeding, was undertaken by the sug- 
gestion of Mr. Fletcher and the large ex- 
pense was in part borne by Mr. Fletcher. 

Thorough chewing, long chewing, aids the 
progress of food residues along the garbage 
canal, the colon, but only when a sufficient 
amount of roughage is swallowed with the di- 
gestible and nutrient portion of the food- 
stuffs. So one should not follow Mr. 
Fletcher's instruction to return to the plate 
everything that cannot be reduced to liquid 
in the mouth, but should masticate well and 
swallow natural foodstuffs as nearly as pos- 
sible in their complete entirety as nature pro- 
vides them. 

6. The Educated or House-broken Co- 
lon. — The house dog is necessarily trained 
to avoid evacuating his bowels in the house. 
In other words, he is taught to restrain his 
bowels from moving when they are so dis- 
posed, until it is convenient for his owner to 
turn him out of doors. A dog so trained is 
house-broken. 

If dogs were the only house-broken 
creatures, what a world of wretchedness, suf- 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 91 

fering, even crime and human wreckage 
would be saved. 

All civilized people are house-broken, and 
like poor house-broken dogs, pay for this 
sinister education an infinite price, not only 
in misery and inefficiency, but in deadly 
disease and shortened life. 

The whole civilized portion of the human 
race is house-broken. The mother or nurse of 
every infant begins the work of training the 
child to control its bowels, which means to 
thwart the automatic process by which the 
wastes are normally dismissed from the body, 
and by the time the child is two years old it is 
well house-broken and hence constipated. In 
this respect the infant house dog learns faster 
than the human infant. 

A house-broken colon is a damaged colon. 
The natural automatic process of discarding 
the body wastes demands a prompt response 
to the "call" for evacuation. As soon as the 
pelvic colon, the discharging gate, is filled and 
lifted ready for action, a desire for evacuation 
is experienced. When the fecal matters be- 
gin to pass into the rectum the desire becomes 
so pronounced that it must be firmly resisted 
to avoid immediate evacuation. After a time 



92 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

the desire disappears, but the fecal wastes re- 
main in the rectum. The "call" is now lost. 
It may return later when the rectum is still 
more distended by the advance into it from the 
pelvic colon of additional waste matters. 
This "call" may be resisted also, and so the 
rectum may become distended to the extreme 
limit and will no longer give notice of the 
entrance of feces even when it has been arti- 
ficially emptied. In other words, the "call" 
is permanently lost, the rectum is paralyzed. 

Thousands of sufferers from constipation 
never have a desire for evacuation except 
when a laxative drug has been taken. 

When the call is lost, no warning is given 
of the condition of the colon and accumula- 
tion of waste matters may occur to an aston- 
ishing extent. Once or twice a week, per- 
haps, a dose of salts or of some other cathartic 
is taken for a sort of housecleaning and the 
rest of the time, filthy, putrefying wastes fill 
and distend the colon and cause injuries 
which in many instances can never be re- 
paired. 

Semi-civilized people and savages have a 
keen appreciation of the importance of 
prompt attention to the automatic demands 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 93 

of the body. A medical missionary who had 
spent many years in Arabia told the writer 
that a common objection offered by the tribal 
Arab to living in Aden was the necessity for 
looking up a suitable place for evacuation in 
compliance with the law. 

A new and sensitive colon conscience must 
be developed among civilized people if the 
world is to be saved from the soul- and body- 
and even race-destroying effects of universal 
constipation and world wide autointoxication. 

The universally prevalent idea that one 
bowel movement daily is sufficient is proof of 
the universal prevalence of constipation. One 
bowel movement means constipation of a pro- 
nounced degree. X-ray examination after an 
opaque meal shows that persons whose bowels 
move once a day are constantly carrying in 
their colons the putrefying residues of five to 
ten meals or even a larger number. The colon 
is never empty even after a movement, and 
toxemia is present and often shown in the 
coated tongue, foul breath, headache, depres- 
sion, and other indications usually present. 

One bowel movement a day is very marked 
constipation. 

7, The Use of Laxative Drugs. — It must 



94 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

be admitted that the use of laxative drugs is in 
every way preferable to constipation. Never- 
theless it must be recognized that drugs are at 
best only palliatives. They afford temporary 
relief which is sometimes highly necessary. 
But it must not be forgotten that at the same 
time they inflict grave injury upon the colon, 
to say nothing of injuries to the stomach, liver, 
kidneys and other organs, sometimes even in- 
cluding the heart. 

Every laxative drug which acts by irrita- 
tion of the colon, in time causes colitis or infec- 
tion of the bowel. The congestion of the colon 
mucous membrane caused by the drug, destroys 
the filtering power of the membrane so that 
the poisons developed in the colon by putre- 
faction are readily taken into the blood, thus 
intensifying the effects of the intestinal toxe- 
mia always present with constipation. 

Colitis is accompanied by a spastic condi- 
tion of the colon. That is, the colon contracts 
so that the contents cannot be pushed forward 
en masse, but must be slowly carried along in 
lumps. The occurrence of round, hard lumps 
in the stool is proof of this spastic condition. 
Obstructive adhesions of the pelvic colon, 
pouching and hindering adhesions of the 



r 




10 P. M. 

Breakfast Residue Discharged (bowel movement at bed time). 

Dinner Residue (red) in Colon, and Supper Residue 

(yellow) ready to pass into Colon. 




6:00 A. M. 

Morning of Second Day. Dinner Residue (red) in 
Pelvic Colon, ready to be discharged. 



THE "HOUSE-BROKEN" COLON 95 

caecum, incompetency of the ileocecal valve, 
are only a few of the mischiefs arising from 
the "laxative" habit. 

Still another, and one of the most damaging 
effects of the laxative is a great exaggeration 
of the antiperistaltic action of the transverse 
colon, causing overdistension of the caecum, 
which in time is followed by pouching of the 
caecum, appendicitis and other grave condi- 
tions. 

All laxative drugs are harmful. There are 
no exceptions. They all produce colitis and 
thus intensify the mischievous effects of the 
constipation which they temporarily remove. 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 

The American people are almost uni- 
versally suffering from a food blockade in the 
colon. Constipation, the common term ap- 
plied to this condition, is generally regarded 
as an inconvenience rather than a menace to 
life and health. It is one of the most prolific 
of all causes of disease. 

Thousands of men and women think them- 
selves in good health because their bowels 
move once a day, regardless of the fact that 
they have coated tongues, a foul breath, and 
many other indications of autointoxication. 
The fact is that the bowels should move three 
or four times a day — or at least once after 
each meal. 

The normal alimentary cycle is twelve to 
fourteen hours. Here are the simple facts, as 
shown by means of X-ray examinations, ex- 
periments upon animals, and other scientific 
modes of investigation: 

The work of digesting and absorbing the 
food occupies about eight hours. At the end 
of this time the unusable food residues is found 
deposited in the colon, ready to be dismissed 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 97 

from the body as waste and useless material. 
The process of gastric digestion is finished in 
four hours; the small intestine completes the 
work of digestion and absorption in four 
hours more. 

During this time the foodstuffs have been 
completely digested and absorbed, or prac- 
tically so, leaving a small residue of indi- 
gestible and unusable remnants, together with 
mucous, bile and certain other waste matters 
to be dismissed from the body by the colon, a 
wonderful mechanism provided by Nature to 
serve the body for waste and garbage disposal. 
There is in many ways close analogy between 
"the house we live in" and an ordinary domi- 
cile. It is almost literally true that the stom- 
ach is the kitchen of the body, the small intes- 
tine the dining room, the colon the garbage 
and waste disposal system — more than a mere 
waste receptacle. 

The stomach prepares the food materials 
for digestion, but really digests and absorbs 
very little of the food. 

The small intestine is the great digesting 
and absorbing department of the human econ- 
omy. On its seven square feet of mucous 
membrane are found five millions of absorbing 



98 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

rootlets — the "villi" — that hang out into the 
cavity of the intestine. The contents of the 
intestine, which bathe these absorbing rootlets, 
constitute the soil out of which the body 
grows. As the soil is exhausted, the worth- 
less remnant is pushed on into the colon, to 
be dismissed from the body as unusable and 
undesirable. 

The great work of the stomach and small 
intestine, involving marvelous changes that 
fit the food to enter the blood and become part 
of the living structure of the body, is done in 
eight hours. During this time the length of 
intestine passed over is nearly twenty-five 
feet. 

Clogging or the Colon 

At the end of eight hours the residues are 
in the colon and within two or three feet of the 
lower outlet. If the whole mass of food, 
weighing several pounds in all, has been able 
to travel twenty-five feet in eight hours, or at 
the rate of three feet an hour, it certainly 
would seem that the small residue of waste, 
amounting to only a few ounces, ought to fin- 
ish the journey in four hours more. 

And that is exactly what occurs in the wild 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 99 

man who lives a natural life in the forest and 
in those man-like beasts, the higher apes. But 
among civilized people a blockade develops in 
this lower region of the digestive tube, which 
is the worst sort of obstruction to the com- 
merce of the body and to all its activities. 

X-ray studies by Dr. James T. Case have 
shown that the food residues of a meal reach 
a point beyond the middle of the colon in less 
than ten hours from the beginning of the 
meal. In two hours more, or at the end of 
twelve hours, these unusable materials should 
be cast out of the body. Certainly two hours 
ought to suffice for a journey of only two feet, 
when nearly thirty feet have been traversed in 
ten hours. 

But the astonishing fact is that the time 
required for the food residues to travel the 
last two feet of the colon is, in the average 
person whose bowels move once a day, about 
forty hours, or twenty times longer than it 
should be. 

In this astonishing fact is to be found the 
secret of nine-tenths of all the chronic ills 
from which civilized human beings suffer, and 
perhaps not a small part of our moral and 
social maladies. 



100 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

In the last two feet of the colon is found 
the seat of the most destructive blockade that 
has ever opposed human progress. Let us 
look a moment at the real situation. The 
accompanying diagrams will help to make this 
clear. (See colored plates.) 

Suppose a test meal is given at breakfast 
on Monday morning. Within the fifty or 
more hours that elapse before the residues of 
the meal are dismissed on the following Wed- 
nesday, at least six more meals are eaten. 
The residues of all these meals as well as 
those of the test meal are packed away in the 
colon. The residue of the test meal is shown 
in the accompanying colored diagrams in 
black. The succeeding meal residues are 
shown in red, blue and yellow colors. 

How far different this condition is from 
& normal or ideal state will best be appre- 
ciated by reference to the second diagram. 
When the colon acts normally the food resi- 
dues are moved along in a procession with in- 
tervals between the meals which afford the in- 
testine an opportunity for rest, and, still more 
important, a chance to cleanse itself by means 
of its lubricating and disinfecting mucus. 
Each residue should be moved along by itself 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 101 

and discharged at once when it reaches the 
end of the colon. Here is the normal pro- 
gram of the procession along the food tube : 

Breakfast at 7 a. m. 

At 11 a. m. the stomach is empty and has 
an opportunity to rest and disinfect itself be- 
fore dinner. The breakfast is all in the small 
intestine and beginning to pass into the colon. 

Dinner at noon. 

The new peristaltic impulse given the 
whole food tube by the new intake of food car- 
ries the breakfast over into the colon and by 
five o'clock p. m. the breakfast has begun to 
enter the descending or last half of the colon, 
the dinner is in the lower part of the small in- 
testine, and the stomach is again empty, rest- 
ing and disinfecting itself in preparation for 
supper. 

Supper at 6 p. m. 

The new food intake makes another vigor- 
ous move all along the line, the result of which 
in four hours should be to dismiss the whole 
residue of the breakfast, to move the dinner 
residue into the colon, and to carry the sup- 
per to the lower end of the small intestine, 
leaving the stomach empty and so prepared 
for rest during the night. 



102 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

During the hours of sleep the intestinal 
movements are much slower. By morning 
however, the dinner residue of the day before 
will have reached the lower colon, so that the 
intestinal activity set up by the act of rising 
should lead to a bef ore-breakfast bowel move- 
ment. 

The breakfast intake should cause the dis- 
missal of the residue of the supper of the day 
before; or if the after-breakfast movement 
fails or is incomplete, the dinner intake should 
lead to a complete clearance of all the residues 
accumulated from the food intakes of the day 
before. 

When this program is carried out with- 
out interruption, no part of the food tube is 
over-burdened with an undue accumulation of 
waste material, and the food residues are 
moved along so rapidly that there is no time 
for harmful putrefaction. 

It is known that the first changes that oc- 
cur in the foodstuffs are simple acid fermenta- 
tions that are harmless. It is only after the 
lapse of twenty-four hours or more that putre- 
faction and poison-forming processes begin. 
It is thus evident that the maintenance of the 
normal alimentary cycle is a matter of the ut- 



r 




6:30 A. M. 

Half Hour after Rising, Second Day, after Bowel Movement. 
Only Residue of Supper (yellow) left in Colon. 




8:00-9:00 A. M. (Second Day) 

Second Morning after Breakfast. Bowels have moved, the 

Colon has been emptied of wastes and residue, and 

is ready for a new series of meals. 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 103 

most consequence for health preservation, and 
that the restoration of this function when lost 
is a matter of fundamental importance. 

X-ray studies have clearly shown that in 
by far the great majority of cases of consti- 
pation, perhaps in nine-tenths of all cases, the 
real difficulty is to be found in the lower part 
of the colon. 

A common and most valuable remedy 
which has been resorted to even by the most 
primitive people and from the most ancient 
times, is the enema, by which the crippled 
colon is mechanically emptied. This harmless 
measure affords only temporary relief, and 
to be effective must be repeated daily, and 
twice a day when natural movements do not 
occur without. 

Bulk and Lubrication 

The most valuable remedies, measures 
that actually succeed, even in very obstinate 
cases, are found in two very simple substances 
— bran and paraffine oil. One affords bulk, 
the other lubrication. 

By the proper use of bran, or agar-agar, 
and paraffine oil at each meal, the bowels may 
be made to move normally, or at least in a 



104 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

manner approximating the normal rhythm — 
that is, three times a day, or after each meal. 
The amount of bran or other bulk material 
must be large, two ounces daily being re- 
quired in some cases. 

The amount of paraffine required also dif- 
fers. In some cases the dose must be quite 
large — even so much as an ounce and a half 
at each meal. The amount of bran and para- 
ffine should be gradually increased until suffi- 
cient to accomplish its purpose. 

How to Raise the Blockade 

When the tongue is coated and the breath 
bad, it is well to begin the battle for raising 
the blockade with a few days of fruit regimen. 
This consists of a dietary composed wholly of 
fruits, with bran and paraffine. Under this 
regimen the tongue becomes clean, the breath 
sweet and the bowels move three or four times 
a day. By careful management of the diet, 
this improved condition may be rendered per- 
manent, but a never-ending battle must be 
waged against constipation. The colon is 
crippled and will always need special atten- 
tion and help. It has become overstretched 
and half paralyzed, and so an extra amount 



THE FOOD BLOCKADE 105 

of roughage or bulk-making material in the 
shape of fruits, vegetables, bran or agar-agar 
will always be needed. The mucous glands 
have atrophied and perhaps the appendix has 
been removed, and so the lubricating system 
of the intestine is damaged, and it may be 
necessary to make permanent use of an artifi- 
cial lubricant — paraffine oil in some form. 
Bulk and lubrication must be provided for 
every meal. 



THE CRIPPLED COLON 

Crippled colons may be responsible for 
half the ills of life. They are the cause of 
most of the headaches, the insomnia, depres- 
sion, nerves, neuralgia, hypochondria and 
"biliousness," to say nothing of neuritis, rheu- 
matism, and a score of other painful or dan- 
gerous maladies. Many diseases, the origin of 
which has long been a mystery, are now be- 
lieved by able physicians to be due to the poi- 
sons generated by putrefactive processes in 
the colon. 

Colon Hygiene 

We hear much now-a-days about the hy- 
giene of the mouth, and the newspapers teem 
with wise and unwise advice about the care 
of the stomach, but rarely do we hear any- 
thing really helpful or sensible about the 
hygiene of the colon, the terminal portion of 
the alimentary canal. 

The mouth is the receiving station, the 
colon is the waste disposal plant. The wastes 
with which the colon deals are only in part 
composed of food residues. The larger part 




A CRIPPLED COLON 

Diagram showing the condition of the colon in chronic 
constipation as revealed by the X-ray. Spastic contraction of 
the colon due to colitis. Dilated cecum, incompetent ileocecal 
valve, ileac and gastric stasis, inflammation of gall-bladder 



THE CRIPPLED COLON 107 

consists of bile, mucus and other body wastes, 
poisonous matters which must be eliminated 
in order to keep the blood clean and the body- 
free from hindering refuse. 

The mismanagement of the receiving sta- 
tion is a prolific source of trouble and of 
disease. This every one knows, most people 
from personal experience. Not so many peo- 
ple are aware of the fact that a still longer 
list of ills and still more serious disorders re- 
sult from derangements of the waste disposal 
plant. When the food residues, and other 
wastes, are not promptly dismissed from the 
body they undergo putrefaction. This is the 
cause of the extremely offensive character of 
the fecal matters, especially the bowel dis- 
charges of dogs, cats, lions, and other animals 
that eat meat. The undigested portion of 
meat undergoing decay in the colon gives rise 
to the same obnoxious odors and the same 
rank poisons which are found in a dead rat or 
the carcass of a dead cow decaying in a fence 
corner. 

It is necessary to take in food at frequent 
intervals. It is equally necessary to dispose 
of the food residues and body wastes at fre- 
quent intervals. The kidneys remove poi- 



108 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

sons which are temporarily deposited in the 
bladder and discharged several times a day. 
The liver excretes daily twenty ounces of bile 
which, according to Bouchard, is six times as 
poisonous as urine, and this needs to be dis- 
charged along with other wastes as promptly 
and as frequently as is the urine. In other 
words, it is just as important that the colon 
should be emptied several times a day as that 
the bladder should be emptied several times 
daily. In fact, the bowels should be emptied 
at least after every meal. 

Bowel Habits of Wild Animals,, Wild 
Men and Idiots 

Wild animals, wild men, healthy infants 
and idiots move their bowels as often as they 
are fed. Wild animals and wild men have bet- 
ter sense than to interfere with the normal 
promptings of nature. Infants and idiots 
lack the intelligence necessary to disturb their 
normal functions, and so the bowels move 
automatically soon after food is taken. In 
well-managed idiot asylums the inmates are 
regularly taken to the toilet after each meal 
and before going to bed. When this is done, 
the soiling of beds and clothing is prevented. 



THE CRIPPLED COLON 109 

When the colon acts in this prompt and 
regular way, there is little time for the putre- 
faction of food residues in the colon, and the 
stools are less offensive, especially when meat 
is excluded from the dietary. 

Injurious Conventionalities 

Most civilized human beings, and some- 
times pet animals, are less fortunate than wild 
animals, wild men and idiots in relation to 
their bowel functions. Almost from the first 
dawn of intelligence the infant is systematic- 
ally taught to restrain its bowel and bladder 
functions. The demands of modesty and our 
ignorance of the importance of frequent, 
rhythmical and automatic bowel action lead to 
restraint, delay, and neglect of the body's 
waste disposal function to such a degree as to 
make it an actual menace to the welfare of 
the race. 

A Lesson from an Idiot Asylum 

Miss Keller, an inspector connected with 
the health department of New York city, 
sent the author the following highly interest- 
ing observation respecting the bowel habits of 
idiots which must of necessity be automatic, 



110 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

and hence more likely to be natural than the 
habits of those whose intelligence permits 
them in obedience to the mandates of perni- 
cious custom to ignore and set aside the warn- 
ing of nature, and to thwart and finally de- 
stroy important automatic functions: 

"The following observation may interest 
you. It was made while inspecting Randall's 
Island's Children's Hospitals and Schools, the 
place where New York City maintains its 
feeble-minded public charges, about two thou- 
sand in number, who range from rank idiocy 
through imbecility and up to the moron grade. 
There are also a few epileptics. 

"In looking into sanitary conditions, and 
finding both the inmates and the premises 
clean, I asked the matron in charge of one 
cottage harboring one hundred and eighty-six 
children of the lowest type of mentality, how 
she managed to keep them continent. She 
said the children are trained to evacuate their 
bowels four times each day, once after each 
meal and once before bedtime. Those whose 
mentality is too low to form the habit of go- 
ing to the toilet are placed on it by attend- 
ants. The others are directed there after 
meals. The results are quite mechanical. 



THE CRIPPLED COLON 111 

"It was interesting to note how many of 
those who have been there for some time have 
clear looking skins and eyes, while many of 
the new arrivals are sallow and have pimpled 
skins." 

Instead of training the child to restrain its 
functions, to resist the call to nature for the 
evacuation of poisonous wastes, it should be 
taught that these functions are of greatest 
importance and that the demand of nature 
should be respected and should receive imme- 
diate attention. To protect the child from 
embarrassment and to ensure normal func- 
tioning, the child should be trained from earli- 
est years to visit the toilet at once after each 
meal, before going to bed, and on rising in 
the morning. 

No possible harm can come from these fre- 
quent bowel movements, and when the diet is 
properly regulated, no difficulty will be ex- 
perienced in establishing good bowel habits, 
especially if the instruction is begun early and 
if there is never any interruption of the normal 
bowel rhythm. 

The neglect of the colon is so common 
among civilized people that constipation has 
become an almost universal condition. It is, 



112 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

indeed, so common that a wholly wrong con- 
ception of the bowel function has become cur- 
rent. It is almost universally believed by 
physicians, as well as laymen, that one bowel 
movement a day is quite sufficient to meet 
natural requirements and "a well formed 
stool" is the evidence of perfect "regularity." 

Interesting Japanese Colon Customs 

The Japanese are an exceedingly prac- 
tical people, and although rapidly becoming 
sophisticated are not yet so far away from the 
influence of their primitive life as to have be- 
come obtuse to their physical needs as are 
the people of the older civilizations. A highly 
intelligent American lady who has lived long 
in Japan and become very intimately ac- 
quainted with the habits and manners of the 
people, has given me the following most inter- 
esting account of the very sensible manner in 
which the Japanese deal with matters pertain- 
ing to the evacuation of wastes : — 

"The Japanese show no false modesty 
whatever in answering the call of nature. For 
no matter what the time, place or circum- 
stances may be, they do not hesitate to excuse 
themselves and go to the toilet whenever they 
experience a "call." 



THE CRIPPLED COLON 113 

"The guests who visit us in our home, even 
the gentlemen callers, think no more of asking 
where the toilet is than of speaking of the 
weather. 

"In most of the houses of the Japanese 
there are two toilets, one very near the recep- 
tion room and the other nearer the living 
rooms of the family. 

"If you are a guest in a friend's home 
and must go to the toilet, you cannot possibly 
avoid observation for the toilet is in plain view. 

"The toilets themselves are different from 
ours in that there is no stool or chair but 
simply a hole in the floor over a large jar so 
that in evacuating the bowels one assumes a 
squatting position, and the children are 
taught from babyhood up to press the knees 
against the abdomen when evacuating the 
bowels. 

"As to the convenient location of toilets, 
they are not only in every railway station, 
public building, etc., but on the corner of 
every block or two in all the cities and towns. 
These public toilets the natives use freely. 

"As to their diet, not until the white man 
came into their country and taught them to do 
so, did they eat meat of any kind except fish. 



114 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Even now in some of the Buddhist sects the 
eating of the flesh of animals, except fish, is 
prohibited. 

"In the interior, most of the housewives 
know nothing of how to kill and dress a 
chicken, and in our cooking classes for the 
women they beg us to teach them how to fry 
a beefsteak and they think that we have meat 
at every meal and many different kinds at 
each meal. 

"They eat a great many different kinds of 
vegetables, especially greens of all kinds, and 
seaweed (agar-agar) is a favorite dish. Fruit 
is served at every meal. After a feast the last 
thing served is not coffee but fruit. 

"The Japanese say that we, the white man, 
have a peculiar odor about us which is to them 
very offensive, and that this odor is due to the 
eating of the flesh of fowls and beasts." 

The above most interesting observations 
very fully confirm the author's views respect- 
ing the normal intestinal rhythm when the au- 
tomatic mechanism devised by nature for the 
evacuation of the body wastes is allowed to 
operate without interference by voluntary re- 
straint. 



ONE DAILY EVACUATION IS 
CHRONIC CONSTIPATION 

The truth is, one bowel movement a day 
is serious constipation, and a "well formed 
stool" is absolute proof of stagnation of the 
colon contents and autointoxication. When 
the bowels move with normal frequency there 
is not time for the food residues to become 
dried out and molded into a semi-solid mass. 

X-ray examinations of the alimentary 
tract have shown that when the bowels move 
but once daily, the residues of a test meal are 
not fully discharged until the third day, or 
fifty hours or more from the time the meal was 
taken. It is evident that in such cases not 
only the residues of the test meal are in the 
colon but also the residues of all the meals 
taken after the test meal during the two days. 
That is, besides the test meal (breakfast) 
residues, there are the residues of the dinner 
and supper of the same day and the breakfast, 
dinner, and supper of the next day, five meals 
in addition to the test meal. 

This is the constant situation with a person 
whose bowels move once a day. When the 



116 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

bowels move naturally only every other day, 
or when stimulated by a laxative, the situa- 
tion is very much worse. In such cases the 
colon often contains the residues of a dozen 
meals or more. 

When the bowels move normally after 
each meal there is never found in the body at 
one time more than three meal residues and 
nothing remains in the colon longer than 
twenty-four hours. It is probable that the 
normal motility period of the human alimen- 
tary canal is ten to fourteen hours. That is, 
the residue of the breakfast should be dis- 
missed before bedtime, the residue of dinner 
on rising next morning, and the supper resi- 
due after breakfast or dinner. 

It is not to be expected that this ideal con- 
dition can be established in all cases, nor even 
in the majority of cases of chronic constipa- 
tion, because in these obstinate cases the colon 
has become so badly crippled, the delicate 
nerves and muscular machinery, by which the 
food residues and body wastes are disposed of 
have been so greatly damaged, that the best 
results that can be hoped for are only an ap- 
proximation to normal conditions. 




Diagram Showing Condition of the Colon when the Bowels 
Move once Daily, containing the Residues of Six Meals. 



r 




Diagram Showing Condition of the Colon in Chronic Consti- 
pation, containing the Residues of Nine or more Meals. 



CHRONIC CONSTIPATION 117 

Abnormal Colon Conditions 

The diseased conditions which are most 
commonly involved in constipation are the 
following: 

1. Paralysis of the rectum from resisting 
the promptings of nature. The "call" has 
been lost by neglect* 

Normally, the rectum is highly sensitive. 
It is empty except during bowel movement. 
As soon as a small amount of fecal matter en- 
ters the upper part of the rectum, a desire for 
evacuation is experienced. While this sensa- 
tion calls attention to the need for evacuation 
the same nerve stimulation operates a reflex 
by which the colon is made to contract and 
empty itself if given an opportunity to do 
so. If, however, the "call" is resisted, the 
sensation ceases, the rectum becomes filled 
with fecal matters but gives no sign of their 
presence. The rectum becomes greatly dis- 
tended and is really paralyzed. 

This is rectal constipation and is by far the 
most common sort. It is the natural conse- 
quence of neglect. Fortunately, rectal con- 
stipation is always curable, but very thorough- 
going and prolonged treatment is required. 



118 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The rectum must be kept empty by the aid 
of the cool enema (80°-70° F) twice a day. 
Paraffin oil in some form, bran, or agar-agar 
and a laxative diet must be consistently ad- 
hered to. Electricity is often useful in restor- 
ing normal sensibility. 

Regular times for evacuation are highly 
important. An effort should be made after 
each meal. The aid of the cool enema may be 
resorted to with benefit in many cases to initi- 
ate the normal habit of evacuating after every 
meal. 

2. A contracted or "tight" anal sphincter 
may be the cause of delayed movements and 
rectal constipation. 

When ulcers, hemorrhoids, or other pain- 
ful conditions of the rectum exist, or "tight" 
sphincter, the anal sphincter should be 
stretched and proper surgical treatment ap- 
plied. 

3. Colitis. — A spastic contraction, or 
cramp of the bowel, occurs in colitis, causing 
obstinate constipation, so-called "spastic con- 
stipation." Hot fomentations to the abdomen 
and the warm enema will temporarily relax 
the spasm, but the colitis must be cured by 
changing the intestinal flora, that is, driving 



CHRONIC CONSTIPATION 119 

out the putrefactive bacteria and establishing 
the protective acid-forming germs, which not 
only prevent putrefaction, but by means of 
the acids which they produce stimulate the 
bowel to normal activity. The ammonia and 
other gases caused by putrefaction paralyze 
the colon. Colitis is always curable by use of 
modern scientific methods. 

4. Prolapse of the pelvic colon, the last 
loop of the bowel, is a very common cause of 
obstinate constipation. When adhesions have 
formed, an operation is sometimes necessary. 
The pelvic colon must rise as it fills to enable 
it to empty itself naturally. 

5. Adhesions of the caecum. — The head 
of the caecum receives the food residues from 
the small intestine and should be able to con- 
tract so as to push its contents up and around 
the liver angle of the colon. When the caecum 
is adherent it cannot contract and the residues 
accumulate in the bowel and only move along 
the colon as pushed forward by accumulating 
material continually entering from the small 
intestine. 

6. Adhesions of the appendix bind and 
cripple the colon the same as adhesions of the 
caecum. This is perhaps the reason why 



120 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

chronic appendicitis is always accompanied 
by constipation. Persons who have been ope- 
rated for appendicitis usually suffer from con- 
stipation perhaps because of adhesions of the 
caecum resulting from the operation. 

7. A dilated or a pouched caecum is 
equally crippling. The over-stretched bowel 
loses its contractile power. 

It is to be remembered also that the ap- 
pendix is an important part of the lubricating 
system of the colon. The loss of the abundant 
supply of lubricating mucus which it normally 
furnishes may be a cause of constipation. 

Constipation of a very obstinate sort is 
found in most cases in which the appendix has 
been removed or in which it is the subject of 
chronic disease. In such cases the colon is per- 
manently crippled by the loss of this very 
essential feature of its lubricating mechanism. 

In such a csecal pouch putrid matters ac- 
cumulate and become extremely virulent. 
The caecum becomes a sort of cesspool in 
which decomposable residues may remain for 
several days or longer. 

A proper change in diet and special meas- 
ures of various sort greatly improve this con- 
dition but in many cases it is necessary to 



CHRONIC CONSTIPATION 121 

wash out the colon by means of an enema daily 
or at least every other day. These cases are 
not relieved by laxatives. The enema is the 
only unfailing method. The daily use of the 
cool enema is not in any way injurious and 
may be continued indefinitely without harm. 

8. An incompetent ileocecal valve is both 
a consequence and a cause of constipation. 
This interesting structure acts as a check valve 
and thus makes possible the uniform advance- 
ment of the bow T el content. When the valve 
is broken down and incompetent the material 
which enters the colon from the small bowel 
returns to the small intestine when the bowel 
contracts, and surges back and forth without 
making definite progress. Gases are espe- 
cially troublesome. When the colon con- 
tracts, its contents are expelled at both ends, 
at the lower externally, at the upper into the 
small bowel. 

Tumors, cancer, adhesions and obstructive 
"kinks" are other recognized but rare causes 
of obstinate constipation. 

Fortunately, this long list of colon condi- 
tions is really not so formidable as it looks. 
Two very simple remedies will almost always 
accomplish a cure. These are bulk and lubri- 



122 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

cation. The bulk is found in sterilized bran 
or agar-agar; the lubrication in paraffin oil. 
These remedies must be systematically used, 
at every single meal, unfailingly, and in such 
quantity as may be needed to produce the 
results required. Large amounts are some- 
times necessary at first. 

It is highly important to have an X-ray 
examination of the colon made in all cases of 
obstinate constipation so that the exact condi- 
tion present may be discovered. With this 
highly important knowledge in his possession, 
the up-to-date physician is now able to deal 
successfully with practically every case of con- 
stipation. Operation is sometimes required, 
but only in very rare cases. 



X-RAY VIEWS OF THE FOOD 
TUBE 

Since scientific observation has fixed the 
normal time for the food transit and has 
worked out the actual time table so that we 
know when the food or food residues of a 
meal should arrive at each particular station, 
it becomes a matter of great interest to have 
some method by means of which we may check 
up the progress of a meal along the food tube 
and note the time of arrival at the different 
stations and the time occupied by the whole 
journey from the entrance to exit, the so- 
called "motility period." This has come to be 
a matter of the greatest moment since we have 
been made acquainted by Metchnikoff, Bou- 
chard and others, with the terrible conse- 
quences which result from delay at way sta- 
tions, through the putrefaction of food resi- 
dues, secretions, wastes and partly digested 
foodstuffs. 

Modern science has provided two methods 
of studying "motility" which are capable of 
rendering the most signal service. These are 
the X-ray test meal and the color test. 



124 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

X-Ray Study of Motility 

This test is based upon the fact that cer- 
tain substances are opaque to the X-rays and 
cause them to show a shadow on a specially 
prepared screen or on a photographic plate. 

The most elaborate and complete method 
of X-ray examination of the colon was devised 
by Dr. James T. Case, roentgenologist of 
the Battle Creek Sanitarium (now Lieut.- 
Colonel of the U. S. Army, Senior Consultant 
in Roentgenology for the American Expedi- 
tionary force in France) to whom the world is 
greatly indebted for many important observa- 
tions and discoveries in connection with the X- 
ray study of the stomach and colon. 

What the X-Ray Expert Sees 

An X-ray examination of a person with- 
out special preparation would usually show 
very little respecting the stomach or intestine 
for the reason that these parts are practically 
transparent to the X-rays. Special prepara- 
tion of the subject must be made. This spe- 
cial preparation consists of two things; com- 
lete emptying of the stomach and intestine 
and second, the giving to the patient of a spe- 




o 



5-, +-> 

O ri 

"o 
U 

o 



U 



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> 



> 







p^ 



X-RAY VIEWS OF THE FOOD TUBE 125 

cial meal, which usually consists of a pint of 
gruel of some sort or a couple of glasses of 
buttermilk to which has been added an ounce 
or two of bismuth or barium in fine powder. 

These mineral substances, as well as others, 
are opaque to the X-ray. That is, they cast 
a shadow. The stomach and intestines being 
hollow organs, the shadow formed by the 
opaque meal takes the form of the stomach 
or of that part of the intestine in which it 
appears. 

When a person who has taken an opaque 
meal is placed in the X-ray apparatus, the 
shadow of the meal is thrown upon a screen 
under the eye of the observer, who is thus able 
to note the location of the meal, the form of 
the part in which it is located and to compare 
it with the normal, and likewise to observe the 
changes in form and location which are always 
taking place. 

The observer begins his examination by 
placing the subject between the X-ray tube 
and a fluorescent screen and seats himself upon 
a stool in front of the screen. The subject is 
now given the test meal, and as he swallows it 
the expert watches the behavior of the stomach 
as each morsel enters. In health, everything 



126 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

proceeds in the most orderly fashion. As one 
morsel succeeds another, it passes along a 
definite course until it reaches a state of rest 
and is lost in the accumulating mass. 

The reception of food into the stomach 
starts up a series of movements which should 
proceed in a definite and well known order. 
Any deviation from the normal standard is 
quickly noted and recorded. 

The stomach movements are not so rapid, 
however, that the X-ray cannot catch them 
on the screen and record them on a photo- 
graphic plate. 

The observer notes with the greatest care 
the behavior of the stomach as the food passes 
out of the pylorus and of the small intestine, 
the duodenum, as the food enters it. The ac- 
tion of the pylorus is watched with special care 
since it is at or near this point that many of 
the most troublesome changes in the stomach 
occur. There may be deformities due to ulcer 
or cancer, obstruction, or other departures 
from the normal. 

The duodenum is carefully scrutinized for 
the presence of ulcer or adhesions which may 
obstruct or delay the passage of food through 
it. 



X-RAY VIEWS OF THE FOOD TUBE 127 

After a thorough initial scrutiny the sub- 
ject is released and asked to return at stated 
intervals during the day when the observa- 
tions made show the progress of the test meal 
along the road from stomach to colon. 

The observations are renewed the next day, 
at less frequent intervals, to note the length of 
time the food residues remain in the colon and 
any obstructive conditions that may exist. 

The ileocecal valve, the caecum, the ap- 
pendix, the several parts of the colon, ascen- 
ding, transverse, descending, and pelvic colon 
and the rectum, all are carefully inspected. 
By means of pressure applied at various points 
the absence or presence of adhesions is deter- 
mined. When adhesions are present, the mo- 
bility of the various organs is lessened; that 
is, they cannot be moved about as freely as in 
normal conditions. For example, when ulcers 
of the duodenum of a serious character are 
present, it is not uncommon for the X-ray ex- 
pert to find adhesions about the duodenum 
which bind the duodenum and restrict the mo- 
bility of the stomach. In chronic inflamma- 
tion of the gall-bladder, the adjacent parts, 
stomach, liver, duodenum, and gall-bladder, 
and sometimes the colon and other parts are 



128 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

very likely to be bound tightly together by 
adhesions. 

The small intestines, the caecum, the ap- 
pendix, the transverse colon, and the pelvic 
colon are also studied with great care with re- 
ference to adhesions, which in these parts are 
often the source of great mischief and chronic 
disorders, especially autointoxication from 
most obstinate constipation. 

The size and form of the various parts of 
the colon are of great significance and are most 
carefully noted as well as the position of the 
several parts. The accompanying cuts show 
better than any description some of the var- 
ious wonderful things which a really expert 
roentgenologist is able to see by means of the 
X-ray. 

The patient is examined at stated intervals 
until the last trace of bismuth has disappeared 
from the alimentary tract. Sometimes a dis- 
eased appendix retains traces of bismuth for 
several days after it has disappeared from 
other parts. 

Finally a bismuth enema is given while the 
expert watches the behavior of the colon as 
the enema enters. This part of the examina- 
tion is highly important as it may reveal the 



X-RAY VIEWS OF THE FOOD TUBE 129 

presence of cancer or adhesions or other causes 
of mechanical obstruction, as well as deform- 
ities of the gut, pouches, dilations, "kinks," 
etc. and in many cases incompetency of the 
ileocecal valve. 

Besides these "fleuroscopic" observations, 
plates are made, roentgenograms, which reveal 
some things not otherwise discoverable, and 
form a permanent record. 

The information which may be obtained 
by a careful X-ray study of the interior of the 
body, especially of the abdomen, is often of 
greater importance and value than what 
might be learned by opening the abdomen 
and viewing the parts with the eye. The X- 
ray gives information about conditions which 
are beyond the reach of the eye even with the 
organs in sight. 

But emphasis should be laid upon the fact 
that an X-ray apparatus alone is not sufficient 
to secure useful information. A well-trained 
X-ray expert as well as an up-to-date appar- 
atus must be on the job. 

The X-ray only makes shadows. The ex- 
pert must interpret the shadows. Long years 
of training and education of the eye to observe 
fine distinctions of light and shade, and deep 



130 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

study of physiology and pathology as well as 
of the physics and the technic of the X-ray 
are essential to success. Only such an expert 
can be trusted. 

A tyro misinterprets what he sees. The 
minute indications of disease he overlooks, 
and unusual but perfectly normal appear- 
ances he mistakes for cancer or some other 
dreadful condition for which he urges imme- 
diate operation. 

Unfortunately the country is full of X- 
ray tyros, thanks to the commercial activity 
of X-ray machine manufacturers. It is safe 
to say that at the present moment the conclu- 
sions drawn from the majority of X-ray ex- 
aminations of the colon are altogether unreli- 
able and worthless, if not positively mislead- 
ing, and a menace to the patient's welfare if 
made a basis for active treatment or operation. 

Prolapse of the stomach or of the colon does 
not require surgical treatment. The applica- 
tion of a suitable abdominal supporter and ex- 
ercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles are 
the only measures needed. Surgical proced- 
ures which attach the stomach or the colon to 
the abdominal wall and so-called "plication" 
are worse than useless. 



X-RAY VIEWS OF THE FOOD TUBE 131 

A SIMPLE "MOTILITY" TEST 

The time which elapses after a test meal 
is taken before the discharge of the indigestible 
residues is termed the motility period of the 
food tube, that is, the time required for the 
complete journey from entrance to exit. 

Several writers have placed the motility 
period at fifty hours. It is evident, however, 
that these authorities were dealing with con- 
stipated persons, those whose bowels move 
once a day. When the bowels move in a nor- 
mal manner, or three or four times daily, the 
motility period is shortened. In the writer's 
opinion, 24 to 25 hours should be regarded as 
the outside limit for normal motility, and 
really normal bow T el activity, as elsewhere ob- 
served, may be reckoned as 14 to 16 hours. 

Thousands of persons whose bowels move 
daily would be surprised to find on examina- 
tion of their motility a period of two to three 
days or even more. Not infrequently the 
period is lengthened to five or six days. 

The value of this information is so great 
that in the writer's opinion every adult person 
should have the test applied, especially if at 
all constipated. 



132 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Fortunately we are in possession of a very 
simple and efficient means of applying the 
test. A capsule containing fifteen grains of 
carmine is swallowed just before breakfast. 
At each bowel movement thereafter the color 
is observed. The time is noted when the red 
color is first seen and also the time when it is 
last seen. This test is so simple it may be ap- 
plied by any intelligent person. 



RULES FOR CARE OF THE COLON 

The following rules have been tested for 
years at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and 
have been found to be efficient, although there 
are occasionally found cases in which the 
causes of the constipation are mechanical and 
require surgical relief: — 

1. Intestinal inactivity, or constipation, 
results in autointoxication, and is one of the 
most active of all causes of chronic disease. 
Every chronic invalid should take special care 
to secure frequent and regular action of the 
bowels, at least three full movements daily. 

2. An effort should be made to move the 
bowels soon after breakfast, whether or not 
there is a "call" for bowel movement, and at 
any other time when even a slight "call" is 
experienced. A persevering effort should be 
made to secure three movements daily and at 
regular times. 

3. Cellulose (the indigestible part of vege- 
table food) is the only element which can in- 
crease the bulk of the feces. One to two ounces 
of cellulose are needed daily. Bran and agar- 
agar are good forms of cellulose. 



134 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

4. Normally, the bowels move after each 
meal, and sometimes just after rising. The 
largest movement generally occurs soon af- 
ter breakfast. 

5. Many persons are suffering from con- 
stipation who are not aware of the fact. There 
are several forms of constipation: (a) simple 
constipation, in which the bowels are only 
somewhat sluggish or irregular in action; (b) 
cumulative or rectal constipation, in which 
normal movement of the bowels is prevented by 
accumulation of masses of feces in the "rec- 
tum" or "pelvic" colon; and (c) latent consti- 
pation, in which the bowels move daily but 
without complete evacuation of the colon, es- 
pecially of the lower colon which always occurs 
in normal defecation. Not infrequently, the 
symptoms peculiar to latent and cumulative 
constipation are found present together. It is 
highly important in every case of constipation 
that such examinations shall be made as will 
determine the cause of the constipation. It is 
only by the aid of such examinations that it be- 
comes possible to make a successful applica- 
tion of curative means. 

6. Meals must be regular in time and 
amount of food taken. Food is the physiologic 



RULES FOR CARE OF THE COLON 135 

laxative. A scanty meal or the omission of a 
meal usually results in the interruption of the 
intestinal rhythm, — omission of a movement, 
or an incomplete movement. 

7. Fasting, a scanty diet (less than 1600 
calories), a liquid diet (milk, gruels, por- 
ridges), a diet chiefly consisting of such foods 
as potatoes, rice, meat, eggs, tea, coffee and 
condiments, are constipating. 

8. Green vegetables (excepting the po- 
tato) contain much cellulose, especially the 
beet root, turnip, parsnip, spinach, cabbage, 
brussels sprouts, and lettuce; these foods are 
laxative. 

9. Whole grain preparations are rich in 
cellulose. Scotch brose (oatmeal cooked six 
minutes) is an excellent laxative food. 

10. Half the bulk of dried feces consists 
of food residues, the other half of germs and 
of poisonous matter excreted by the intestines, 
which should be gotten rid of as soon as poss- 
ible. This is especially important in cases of 
colitis, since the intestinal mucous membrane 
is diseased, and in all cases of chronic disease, 
particularly in cases of autointoxication, 
Bright's disease, arteriosclerosis, disease of the 
liver, skin, thyroid gland, heart, and lungs. 



136 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

11. Exercise promotes bowel action, espe- 
cially walking, horseback riding, gymnasium 
exercises, and such exercises as trunk bending, 
leg raising and deep breathing. Exercises 
and deep breathing movements taken on the 
inclined table are especially helpful, and 
should be practiced systematically and two or 
three times daily. 

12. The cold morning bath often aids 
bowel action. Various other means are highly 
beneficial, such as massage of the colon, vibra- 
tion and kneading of the abdomen, and special 
exercises of the abdominal muscles. In special 
cases, application of electricity to the ab- 
dominal muscles, also to the rectum and the 
pelvic colon should be made. 

13. In cases in which the abdominal mus- 
cles are relaxed, and the colon and other por- 
tions of the intestine are prolapsed, an efficient 
abdominal supporter should be worn either 
permanently or until the abdominal muscles 
have become strong enough to hold the viscera 
in position. 

14. Drugs of all sorts must be avoided. 
They do not cure, and do much harm when 
repeatedly used. There is no such thing as 
a harmless laxative drug. Mineral waters and 



RULES FOR CARE OF THE COLON 137 

saline laxatives as well as other drugs are 
harmful, and produce enteritis and colitis 
sooner or later. They congest the mucous 
membrane and thus lead to autointoxication, 

15. Agar-agar and paraffin are natural 
and harmless and may be regarded as supple- 
mentary foods. They are not digestible and 
have no influence upon digestion, except to 
encourage bowel action. 

16. Agar-agar (cellulose) aids bowel ac- 
tion by preventing drying and supplying 
bulk. It also absorbs and carries off toxins. 
Paraffin lubricates the colon, protects the 
diseased mucous membrane and hinders ab- 
sorption of poisons and dissolves and carries 
off the toxins of putrefaction. These are 
harmless substances, which may be used con- 
tinuously without injury, and by regular use 
render possible the training of the bowels to 
normal action. 

17. In cases in which the measures above 
indicated do not secure prompt relief from 
constipation, an X-ray examination by aid of 
the bismuth meal should be made. By this 
means, a minute inspection of every part of 
the intestine is possible. In many cases 
"kinks," folds, contractions, adhesions, dis- 



138 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

placements, and other impediments to normal 
bowel action are found, which may be cor- 
rected by application of special measures. 
Such an examination should be made in all 
cases of obstinate constipation. 

18. The squatting position, secured by 
using a raised foot-rest in front of the closet 
seat, is a great aid to bowel movement, espe- 
cially in cases in which the abdominal muscles 
are relaxed, a condition most common in 
chronic constipation. 

19. If the bowels do not move three 
times a day constipation exists. The consti- 
pation may be latent. It is necessary not 
only that the bowels should move, but that the 
colon should be completely emptied. A 
simple test which any one may employ is 
this: After a bowel movement, take a warm 
enema, using about three pints of water. 
About five minutes should be occupied in fill- 
ing the colon. Note the quantity and char- 
acter of the evacuation which follows. Often 
a surprisingly large amount of black, very 
foul smelling material will be brought down 
from an enlarged or pouched caecum where 
it has been retained perhaps for days. Such 
accumulations are an exceedingly common 



RULES FOR CARE OF THE COLON 139 

cause of headaches, "biliousness," coated 
tongue, loss of appetite, and other toxic symp- 
toms. 

Do not forget that normal bowel action is 
at least three full evacuations daily. 

Food wastes should never be retained 
more than twenty-five or twenty-six hours 
at the longest and the normal period is prob- 
ably sixteen hours or less. 

Constipation is one of the greatest causes 
of disease, misery, inefficiency and premature 
senility, and should be most earnestly com- 
bated. By a persevering effort and the appli- 
cation of known and well tested measures, 
every case of constipation may be relieved. 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA— WHEN 

AND WHY IT MUST BE 

CHANGED 

Pasteur discovered that the intestinal 
tract is swarming with bacteria. Strassburger 
and other more recent investigators have 
estimated the number of these organisms pro- 
duced in the intestinal tract daily to be not 
less than 150,000,000,000,000, and doubtless 
the number is sometimes much greater. 
Pasteur believed and taught that these count- 
less millions of minute organisms were useful 
and even necessary to the maintenance of the 
body in health, that they rendered valuable 
and essential assistance in the process of di- 
gestion. More recent studies, however, have 
shown that Pasteur was in error. 

Levin, in the study of Arctic animals at 
Spitzbergen, showed that more than 50 per 
cent of the animals in that region have no 
bacteria in the intestinal tract. Nuttall and 
Thierfelder showed that guinea pigs brought 
into the world by Caesarian section may be 
made to grow without contact with bacteria. 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 141 

Cohendy has quite recently shown that 
chickens hatched from eggs free from bac- 
teria may be raised and made to thrive on 
food and drink in an atmosphere entirely free 
from germs. It is now clearly established 
that we do not live by the aid of the germs 
that throng our intestines and swarm upon 
the surface of the body, but rather that we 
live in spite of these microbic enemies. 

Two Classes — Fermentation Germs and 
Putrefaction Germs 

The germs that are ordinarily found in the 
human intestine may be divided into two 
classes; namely, fermentation germs and 
putrefaction germs. Fermentation germs 
feed upon carbohydrates; that is, starch, 
sugar and dextrin; while putrefaction germs 
feed upon protein — such substances as the 
white of eggs, the lean of meat, and the curd 
of milk. Roughly speaking, we may say that 
fermentation germs feed upon vegetable and 
putrefaction germs upon animal substances. 

These two classes of germs differ very 
widely in their characteristics and their re- 
lation to the human body is in each case based 
upon the substances which they produce by 



142 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

their activity. Fermentation germs produce 
for the most part acids, especially lactic and 
acetic acids, which, in the small quantities 
in which they are produced in the body, are 
practically harmless. Putrefaction germs, on 
the other hand, produce by the decomposition 
of proteins, especially when acting upon ani- 
mal proteins, highly poisonous toxins, many 
of which closely resemble the venom of snakes 
and minute quantities of which are capable of 
producing the most alarming and distressing 
symptoms. 

Poisoning from Putrefying Colon 
Contents 

A good illustration of the ill effects of 
minute doses of these poisons is found in the 
unpleasant symptoms experienced by contact 
with putrescible substances; for example, the 
odors arising from a dead rat in a closet or 
under the floor, although greatly diluted with 
air, may give rise to headache, loss of appe- 
tite, nausea, and other unpleasant, effects. 
The sickening effects of the odors arising 
from the fecal discharges of a dog or cat, or 
of a person accustomed to the free use of 
meat, clearly demonstrate the potency of these 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 143 

subtle poisons. The bowel discharges of a 
meat-eater, exposed in a closed room, would 
in an hour or two render the place intolerable, 
even to a very robust person. The writer has 
known vigorous young men to be made very 
ill with violent attacks of headache through a 
few hours' contact with such material in lab- 
oratory work. A moment's consideration 
will show that such corrupt and putrescent 
matters must be capable of producing much 
greater mischief when in the body than after 
removal from it. If the mere breathing of 
the greatly diluted volatile poisons arising 
from such putrescent matter will produce 
highly unpleasant effects, how much more 
grave must be the effects when through the 
retention within the body of these foul sub- 
stances all of their poisonous contents are ab- 
sorbed and sucked up into the blood and circu- 
lated throughout the body! In other words, 
when a person through constipation throws off 
through the lungs, kidneys and skin a large 
part of the poisonous matters which ought to 
have been discharged through the bowel, how 
great must be the mischief done! There is 
abundant reason for believing that the poison- 
ing of the body, or so-called autointoxication, 



144 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

which results from the absorption of poisons 
from the intestine, is the chief cause of most 
chronic diseases and of premature senility and 
decay, as well as a very potent and predis- 
posing cause of many acute maladies. 

Protective Germs 

Normal human beings are born into the 
world entirely free from bacteria. Not a 
single germ is found in the interior of the 
new-born infant. Within a few hours after 
birth (four to six hours in summer, and 
twenty hours in winter) the intestines of the 
infant are found to be swarming with bac- 
teria, the study of which, by Tissier, Esche- 
rich and numerous other investigators has 
shown them to be of the harmless sort — name- 
ly, fermentation germs, or acid-formers. It 
is the presence of these germs that gives to 
the stools of a healthy young infant a slightly 
sour odor. A portion of the bowel discharges 
of the young infant added to milk does not 
cause putrefaction of the milk, but simply 
souring or fermentation. These acid-forming 1 
germs play a protective role. Thanks to their 
presence in the intestine, the putrefaction 
germs cannot thrive, for these organisms can- 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 145 

1 not grow in the presence ., ofjtgids. An alka- 
line medium is needed to promote their 
growth. Hence, so long as acid-forming 
germs keep possession of its intestine the in- 
fant is safe from the destructive effects of the 
putrefaction germs, or poison-formers, which 
are the cause of diarrhea and most other in- 
fant troubles. When by the use of cow's milk 
(that is, ordinary commercial milk), or by 
other errors in feeding, such as the giving of 
meat or fish, overwhelming numbers of pu- 
trefaction germs are introduced into the in- 
testine and the infant's stools become dark- 
colored and bad-smelling, then the experi- 
enced mother or nurse, as well as the doctor, 
knows that the child, if not already sick, will 
soon be sick, and the sickness will be due to 
the poisons produced by these enemies of life, 
the germs of putrefaction. 

As the child advances in years the putre- 
faction germs increase in number in the intes- 
tine. Through the use of meat, highly active 
putrefaction germs are introduced into the 
intestine and grow and multiply in great num- 
bers, so that the stools become very offensive 
and chronic autointoxication results. The 
ultimate effects are constipation, colitis, so- 



146 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

called biliousness, gastritis, inflammation of 
the gall ducts, gall stones, skin diseases of vari- 
ous sorts, neurasthenia, and in later years 
Bright's disease, hardening of the arteries, high 
blood-pressure, apoplexy, paralysis, insomnia, 
mental depression, and even insanity. 

The Cause of Old Age 

ff Metchnikoff has clearly shown that these 
jfputrefaction germs are the cause of early 
Idegeneracy, premature old age and death. 
Among the worst of the putrefaction germs 
which are commonly found in the intestine in 
the diseased conditions of adult life are the 
bacillus coli, Welch's bacillus, bacillus pro - 
tens, bacillus subtiUs, streptococ cus, entero- 
coccns, bacillus putrificus, bacillus paracoli, 



and sometimes the typhoid bacillus. All of 
these germs produce most virulent poisons, 
and when present in the feces in large num- 
bers they are certain proof of the existence of 
chronic intestinal autointoxication, even 
though the characteristic symptoms of auto- 
intoxicaton have not yet appeared^ A coated f 
tongue, a sallow complexion, dark circles 
around the eyes, appearance of brown spots 
upon the hands or other parts (the so-called 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 147 

liver spots), offensive breath and perspira- 
tion, the discharge of foul-smelling gases from 
the bowels, putrid stools, a thin, inelastic, 
parchment-like skin, dullness of mind, inabil- 
ity to concentrate the mind, mental irritability 
or depression without cause, cold hands and 
feet, perspiration of the hands and feet, 
chronic headache, attacks of migraine or sick 
headache — these and a score of other symp- 
toms which might be mentioned are certain 
indications of chronic poisoning, prompt at- 
tention to which ma y prevent the develop- V 
ment of later more serious conditions, such 
as hardening of the arteries, Bright's disease 
w T ith albumen and casts in the urine, or \ 
apoplexy with paralysis. ffiflYfl Sjaapioms } 
of autointoxication do not appear until after 
the mechanism of the body, through which 
nature deals with poisons, destroying and 
eliminating them, has broken down and failed 
to accomplish its purpose as a result of the 
overwhelming amount of work which has 
been thrown upon it. Hence, the appearance"! 
of symptoms of autointoxication indicates I 
that the body has already become crippled and 
that the matter must receive serious and im- 
mediate attention. 



:1> 



148 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Reforming the Intestinal Flora 

Eminent progressive medical men the 
world over are rapidly coming to recognize 
that changing the intestinal flora is an im- 
portant factor in the treatment of all forms 
of chronic disease and that in the great ma- 
jority of chronic diseases it is the one es- 
sential thing. Modern researches have clearly 
shown that the great benefit that has been 
known to be derived from those methods of 
treatment which have been most successful 
have really been due to the influence of these 
measures upon the intestinal flora. 

We may mention, for example, the ten\- 
porary benefit derived by the tens of thou- 
sands of persons who annually visit mineral 
springs, the waters of which possess laxative 
properties. Such resorts are popular in all 
parts of the world, and the benefit derived 
from the use of their waters is sufficient to 
attract countless multitudes of visitors year 
after year; but that these patients are never 
cured, no matter how much temporary benefit 
they may derive from the thorough emptying 
of their intestines and the unloading of ac- 
cumulated poisons, is shown by the fact that 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 149 

they always return, often being compelled to 
return at increasingly frequent intervals, the 
effect of mineral water as well as of other laxa^l 
tives being to produce colitis, or infection of / 
the colon, thus in the end doing great harm. J 

Results of Changing the Flora 

Again, we find in the remarkable effects 
which have been obtained by various special 
dietaries an equally good illustration of the 
curative value of means which influence the 
intestinal flora. The grape cure, the apple, 
peach, cherry and other fruit cures, the milk, 
buttermilk and whey cures — all of these cures 
operate through their influence upon the in- 
testinal flora. The same statement may also 
apply to the raw food cure, which acquired 
considerable vogue some years ago. 

Fruits and milk are substances which fer- 
ment but do not putrefy. Hence, when the 
diet is exclusively confined to these articles, 
fermentative changes rather than putrefac- 
tion take place in the intestine, acids are 
formed instead of poisons, and for the time 
being the body is delivered from the destruct- 
ive influence of the highly potent toxins pro- 
duced by putrefactive germs when active 



150 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

either within the body or outside of it. Raw 
foods of a vegetable character are alive and 
hence able to resist the action of bacteria. 
Vegetable foods taken in raw or uncooked 
state are digested before it is possible for 
them to undergo destructive changes, and thus 
their use discourages the growth of bacteria in 
the intestine, especially those of the putre- 
factive sort. There are also other benefits 
from the use of uncooked food. 

Dangerous Germs Made Harmless 

Bienstock showed that the colon germs, 
which, in the presence of protein (meat, eggs, 
etc.), produce indol and other highly active 
poisons capable of causing hardening of the 
arteries, headache, probably Bright's disease, 
and numerous other disorders, are, in the pres- 
ence of sugar, incapable of producing these 
poisonous substances, producing instead 
harmless acids. 

Sir Lauder Brunton, of England, and 
more recently Kennan, in this country, have 
shown that this is true of practically all putre- 
factive germs; that is, the germs which cause 
putrefaction when growing on protein will, 
if supplied with a sufficient amount of sugar. 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 151 

cease to produce putrefactive poisons and 
produce fermentation with harmless acids in- 
stead. In other words, putrefaction germs 
may be reformed by simply feeding them 
with sugar. This explains the fact that eggs, 
which of all substances most readily undergo 
putrefaction, may be perfectly preserved by 
the addition of sugar. It also explains the 
fact that the pioneer housewife and the no- 
madic Arab are able to maintain a supply of 
fresh meat by immersing cutlets in cow's milk 
or camel's milk. The writer has in his posses- 
sion a beefsteak which has been kept in a state 
of perfect preservation for twelve years (since 
June, 1906) , by immersion in buttermilk made 
from a culture of the Bacillus Bulgaricus (the 
buttermilk has been changed frequently). 

It appears, then, that putrefactive organ- 
isms, which are now recognized as among the 
most common and deadly enemies of human 
life, may actually become harmless and even 
useful by supplying them with sugar, pro- 
vided this can be done at the proper time and 
in the proper place. The proportion of sugar 
must be at least two per cent. 




152 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

How to Change the Intestinal Flora 

After studying this question for more than 
twenty years, or ever since the appearance of 
Bouchard's great work, "Autointoxication in 
Disease, or Self-Poisoning of the Individual," 
the writer became fully persuaded that it is 
possible to change the intestinal flora, and 
that this change is one of the most practical 
and most important means of combating the 
great majority of the chronic diseases with 
which the physician has to deal. A method 
which has been thoroughly tested may be 
briefly described as follows: 

To change the intestinal flora, three things 
are essential: 

1. To so regulate the diet that there will 
be left in the colon no putrescible food resi- 
dues. This is accomplished by eliminating 
from the diet for a few days all animal pro- 
teins, that is, meat, milk, and eggs, and also 
vegetable foods rich in protein, such as beans, 
peas, and cereals. Fats are also excluded be- 
cause they delay the movement of the food 
through the stomach and small intestine and 
encourage putrefaction in the colon. A diet 
consisting wholly of fruits or fruits and fresh 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 153 

green vegetables such as lettuce or cabbage," 
celery, and other green things is best. Malt 
sugar or milk sugar may be used freely. ^ 

2. The activity of the bowels must be in- fo f ? 
creased to such a degree that the food residues V\ 
will not be retained in the colon long enough 
to undergo putrefaction. This requires three 
or four efficient bowel movements daily, or at 
least one bowel movement after each meal. By 
the free use of bran or agar-agar and paraffin 
oil in some form, spontaneous movements may 
usually be secured. When necessary, the 
colon may be emptied by a thorough enema 
once or twice a day, using water at a tempera- 
ture of 80° F. or warm water (100° F.), fol- 
lowed by cool water. 

In children and in some persons who enjoy 
superb health, the bowels move four times 
daily; before breakfast, after breakfast, after 
dinner, and at bedtime. 

The idea entertained by many persons that 
frequent bowel movement is weakening, is 
wholly erroneous. The bowels move often in 
cases of diarrhoea for the purpose of carrying 
away poisons produced in the intestine by in- 
vading germs. The weakness felt is not due 
to the bowel movements but to the poisons, 



154 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

some portion of which is absorbed in spite of 
Nature's vigorous efforts to eliminate them. 

3. A third factor of importance, though 
less essential than the preceding, is the intro- 
duction of protective organisms, the lactic-acid- 
forming ferments or so-called buttermilk 
germs. There are several of these, and they 
are more effective in combination than alone. 
These ferments are best used at first in whey 
cultures rather than in milk, and large 
amounts of milk sugar (6;8 ounces daily \ pr ^/ 
should be used with them. In extreme cases 
and when rapid results are desired, the cul- 
tures should be takes Jby enem a, as well as by 
mouth, thus planting the protective germs 
where they are most needed and may render 
most effective service. 

"The Fruit Regimen" 

The combination of these methods consti- 
tutes the "Fruit Regimen," a few days of 
which rarely fails to clear the tongue, sweeten 
the breath, and dissipate the foul odor of the 
stools, which become odorless or acquire a 
slight sour odor. 

When the tongue has been cleared, the 
"Milk Regimen" may be utilized with great 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 155 

advantage as a means of fixing in the intestine 
the protective germs which the "Fruit Regi- 
men" has introduced. 

The "Milk Regimen" is much the same as 
the "Fruit Regimen" except that milk is sub- 
stituted for fruit and is given every half hour 
and to the extent of five or six quarts daily. 
On this regimen, the bowels should move very 
freelv, and the stools should be much like those 
of an infant. 

After two or three weeks of the "Milk Regi- } 
men," the patient is prepared for the Anti- 1 
toxic Diet or^Regimen. 

Antitoxic Diet 

This diet consists chiefly of fruits, cereals, 
and fresh vegetables, and should include a 
considerable amount of uncooked vegetables, 
such as lettuce, cucumbers and cabbage. The 
experiments at the Pasteur Institute have 
shown that potatoes and dates are partic- 
ularly valuable as antitoxic foods, probably be- 
cause the carbohydrates which they contain — 
starch in the potato, and sugar in the date — 
are not fully absorbed in the small intestine 
and reach the colon in larger amount than do 
the carbohydrates of most other foods. Car- 



156 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

rots also were shown by Metchnikoff's experi- 
ments to be a valuable antitoxic food. Another 
specially valuable food of which the writer has 
made much use with excellent success is oat- 
meal prepared by short cooking. The steel-cut 
oats or old-fashioned Scotch oats are better for 
the purpose than rolled oats. Instead of cook- 
ing a long time so as to insure the complete 
conversion of all the starch, the oatmeal 
should be stirred into boiling water and cooked 
for five minutes, then set aside for five 
minutes more, and then served. Oatmeal pre- 
pared in this way, constitutes the brose of the 
Scotch Highlanders, and is most palatable. 
Nevertheless, a considerable portion is im- 
perfectly cooked and hence is not readily 
acted upon by the saliva and intestinal juices, 
"and thus finds its way into the colon, 
where it may feed the fermentation germs 
and by its presence prevent the putrefaction 
germs from making poisons by the decompo- 
sition of protein. This protective action may 
be increased by the addition of wheat bran to 
the oatmeal in the proportion of one part to 
three by volume measure. The bran will 
hasten the passage of the oatmeal through 
the intestinal canal and will thus increase the 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 157 

amount of carbohydrate which reaches the 
colon. 

An excellent breakfast food consists of 
equal parts by measure of corn meal, steel-cut 
oats and sterilized bran, cooked six to ten 
minutes. 

The free use of such saccharine fruits as 
prunes, figs, and raisins is also a valuable 
means of introducing carbohydrates in the 
most available form, since the germs which 
live in the colon thrive better on a diet of 
sugar than any other form of carbohydrates. 
Purple figs soaked in cold water for twenty- 
four hours are a very palatable laxative food. 

The Colon Xot Intended to be a 
Sewer 

Nature never intended that the interior of 
the human intestine should be degraded to 
the condition of a privy vault or an obstructed 
sewer, flooding the blood with brain-and- 
nerve-paralyzing and disease-breeding poi- 
sons. This is clearly evident, not only by the 
observations of Levin at Spitzbergen, above 
referred to, but also by the discovery in South 
America of a parrot which lives wholly upon 
bananas, and the fecal discharges of which 



y 



158 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

have the fragrance of bananas and are in- 
offensive as bananas themselves. What nat- 
ural reason can be shown that food that enters 
the body clean, sweet and sterile should leave 
the body in a state horribly loathsome with 
corruption? 
[ Clean blood is a first essential for health of 
( body and mind. Clean blood is impossible 
without a clean colon. Constipation is a fun- 
damental and almost universal evil which is 
the root of more human ills and perhaps more 
human misery, moral and mental as well as 
physical, than any other cause. Fortunately it 
is not an incurable condition. The average 
civilized colon is badly crippled, but it may be 
greatly helped. An intelligent application of 
up-to-date knowledge of colon conditions may 
attain success in the most discouraging cases. 
Every case of constipation is curable, but 
not by means of any panacea. Each case 
must be studied and individual conditions 
must be dealt with in an intelligent and 
rational manner. 

The successful treatment of chronic con- 
stipation requires a careful study of each in- 
dividual case in the light of modern knowl- 
edge of the physiology of the colon, and in ob- 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 159 

stinate cases the whole alimentary canal must 
be inspected by means of the X-ray with the 
opaque meal and enema. 

The intestinal flora must be changed. This 
is absolutely necessary to conquer constipa- 
tion. Putrefactive poisons paralyze the colon, 
while the harmless acids of fermentation are 
the normal stimulants of the intestine, hence 
the necessity for exchanging the wild bacteria 
for the protective germs which nature pro- 
vides as a bulwark against disease. 

The details of methods of treatment, diet, 
how to change the intestinal flora, and other 
matters that pertain to the practical manage- 
ment of the colon are given in other works by 
the author, especially "Colon Hygiene," and 
"Autointoxication." 

By the use of these methods, many per- 
sons thought to be proper subjects for surgical 
treatment may be wholly relieved and re- 
stored to comfort and usefulness. The suffer- 
ing of subjects of chronic autointoxication is 
often so great that they are quite willing to 
submit to any treatment, medical or surgical, 
no matter how drastic, provided only that a 
fair prospect of relief is held out to them. 

With high hopes of relief from chronic 



160 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

miseries, hundreds of persons have undergone 
operations for removal of the appendix, 
"shortcircuiting," or even removal of the colon, 
or some other radical procedure, and have then 
found themselves subject to the same miseries 
as before, often with aggravated intensity. 

The truth is that the "kinks/ 5 and most 
other morbid conditions which are thought to 
require surgical interference, are results rather 
than causes of the fundamental mischiefs, 
which must be corrected before any permanent 
benefit will be secured. 

The notion that the appendix is a useless 
"relic" and the colon a handicap and a menace 
which should have been long ago left behind in 
the march of evolution, is not in harmony with 
sound scientific principles. Nature is wise. 
Because the purpose of an organ is not under- 
stood, we should not feel at liberty to denounce 
it as cumbersome and dangerous. It is but a 
few years since the spleen was looked upon 
as a superfluous organ, if not a burden to the 
bodily economy. Now, we know that the func- 
tions of the spleen are of highest importance 
to the body. While it is possible for a person 
to live without it, at least for several years, its 
activity is known to be essential to the perfect 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 161 

working of the bodily machinery, especially of 
the defensive mechanisms. 

The thyroid gland was for ages regarded 
as of no use to an adult, though regarded of 
use in the early periods of development be- 
fore birth and during the first months of in- 
fancy. Now, we know that this gland has 
most important duties to perform in connec- 
tion with nutrition, especially in the protec- 
tion of the body against the poisons produced 
in the colon by the putrefaction of protein. 
Dogs whose thyroids have been removed die 
when fed on meat, but thrive on a diet from 
which meat is excluded, such as bread and 
milk. 

A minute body in the brain, not larger 
than a pea, once a mere anatomical curiosity, 
thought by the philosopher Descartes to be 
the seat of the soul, is now known to play a 
very important part in regulating growth. 
Disease of this minute structure may be ac- 
companied by loss of bodily symmetry. The 
hands and feet become gigantic in size, all out 
of proportion to the rest of the body. The 
nose or the lower jaw may become immensely 
too large for the rest of the face. 

The appendix vermiformis, long regarded 



162 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

as a vestige and a trouble maker, is now known 
to be a leading factor in the highly important 
lubricating system of the colon. It is a great 
mucous follicle and pours out its lubricating 
mucus at just the point where it is most 
needed. Prof. MacEwen, of Edinboro, an 
eminent Scotch surgeon, and also the late 
Prof. Andrews, a distinguished Chicago sur- 
geon, called attention to this useful function 
of the appendix many years ago. A person 
who has had his appendix removed, has lost a 
valuable part of his lubricating mechanism. 

Such persons generally find it necessary to 
make constant use of paraffin oil to replace the 
function of the lost organ. 

As a matter of fact, a very large propor- 
tion of the appendices which are removed have 
no direct connection with the complaints for 
relief from which the operation is performed. 
After the operation, the patient suffers the 
same as before. 

The same things may be said of the colon. 
It is not a useless organ. Its purpose is to 
secure regular and rhythmical discharge of 
the food residues and body wastes instead of a 
constant discharge as in some birds and fishes, 
in which the colon is so short as to be of little 



THE INTESTINAL FLORA 163 

use as a reservoir. When the colon is removed, 
nature proceeds to make a new reservoir by 
dilating the lower end of the ileum until it 
becomes as large as the normal colon. 

It has become evident that the fault with 
the modern colon is not that it is superfluous, 
but that it has been systematically abused 
by requiring it to deal with material which 
it was never intended to handle, as pointed 
out by the eminent Professor Keith of Lon- 
don. Nature intended the colon of man, 
as those of other primates, the orang and the 
chimpanzee, to be used as a reservoir for hold- 
ing for a few hours the residues of fruits and 
roots and tender shoots, the indigestible seeds, 
skins, and fibres of vegetable foodstuffs, ma- 
terial incapable of undergoing putrefaction or 
giving rise to poisonous products of any sort. 
But by becoming a meat eater man has com- 
pelled his colon to deal with the putrescent 
fragments of undigested flesh, highly offensive 
material which the short colons of carnivorous 
animals dismiss quickly and handle with little 
injury, but which stored up in the capacious 
human colon for many hours, even several 
days, becomes a seething mass of corruption, a 
veritable Pandora's box of disease. 



164 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

And so the conclusion to which sound rea- 
son and experience lead us is that the colon 
does not need to be eliminated by evolution or 
removed by surgery (except when hopelessly 
diseased), but that it needs to be reformed by^i 
proper training and return to a natural^ 1 
dietary. That these measures are successful 
has been demonstrated by the experience of 
the Battle Creek Sanitarium where they have 
been systematically employed in the treatment 
of more than one hundred thousand invalids 
within the last forty years, most of whom were 
suffering from chronic constipation and its I 
consequences, jf 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 

In these days when the question of food- 
stuffs is daily becoming more urgent and ab- 
sorbing it is natural that all available sources 
of supplies to meet one of the most urgent of 
all our human needs should be made the sub- 
ject of careful investigation. The exigencies 
of the great European war have compelled not 
only Germany but others of the belligerent na- 
tions to study nutritive values and the econom- 
ics of food more critically than ever before. 
Every available source of food supply is being 
drawn upon to the fullest possible extent by 
the nations of Central Europe. Efforts have 
been made to extract nutrient material from 
such unpromising sources as straw and saw- 
dust, naturally with no encouraging measure 
of success. 

The writer has followed these researches 
and discussions with great interest. Numer- 
ous important facts in relation to human nu- 
trition which have been long known to scien- 
tists but of which the common people have 
been ignorant have been brought to the atten- 



166 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

tion of the hungry masses and have received 
practical application in the masterly efforts 
which have been made for their relief. It is 
probable that the problem of human nutrition 
is at the present time being solved in a more 
scientific and practical way by the German 
people than the world has ever witnessed be- 
fore. 

In all this discussion, however, one of the 
first and most striking facts upon which pub- 
lic attention was focused after the beginning 
of the great conflict was the necessity for lim- 
iting the supply of flesh foods. The reason for 
this is obvious. All the densely populated na- 
tions of Europe depend chiefly upon outside 
sources for their meat supplies. This must be 
true of any densely populated country for the 
reason that an acre of land that is devoted to 
wheat, for example, will produce nearly ten 
times as much protein, one of the most essen- 
tial of all the food principles, as the same area 
of land devoted to pasturage for beef cattle 
and, as will be shown later in this chapter, the 
same land devoted to nuts may produce an 
even greater amount of food protein together 
with other essential food principles. Notwith- 
standing this fact, the writer has seen no men- 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 167 

tion made of nuts in the discussions of food 
supplies which have grown out of the Euro- 
pean war. The explanation doubtless is to be 
found in the fact that nuts have heretofore cut 
so small a figure in national food supplies that, 
under the present emergency conditions, they 
are naturally overlooked entirely. 

As a matter of fact, nuts have been used 
as a luxury rather than as a staple article of 
food ; but as the public becomes better informed 
respecting the high food value of nuts and 
especially in view of the steadily rising cost of 
flesh meats, the nut is certain to gain higher 
appreciation. The writer has no doubt that 
sometime in the future nuts will become a lead- 
ing constituent of the national bill of fare and 
will displace some of the common foodstuffs 
which today are held in high esteem but which 
in the broader light of the next century will 
be regarded as objectionable and inferior 
foods and will give place to the products of 
the various varieties of nut trees which will 
then be recognized as the choicest of all foods. 

Botanically, a nut is a fruit ; but nuts differ 
so widely both in composition and appearance 
from the foods commonly called fruits that 
they are properly classed by themselves. 



168 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

In nutritive value the nut far exceeds all 
other food substances; for example, the aver- 
age number of food units per pound furnished 
by half a dozen of the more common varieties 
of nuts is 3231 calories while the average of the 
same number of varieties of cereals is 1654 
calories, half the value of nuts. The average 
food value of the best vegetables is 300 calories 
per pound and of the best fresh fruits grown 
in this country is 278 calories. The average 
value of the six principal flesh foods is 810 
calories per pound or one-fourth that of nuts. 

The superior nutritive value of nuts is 
clearly shown by the following tables based 
upon the analyses of Atwater and others: 







TABLE I 








Composition and Fuel Value of the Edible 


Portion of Nuts. 




Protein Fats 


Carbohy 


- Ash 


Food value 








drates 




per pound 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


Calories 


Almonds 


.21.0 
.17.0 


54.9 
66.8 


17.3 
7.0 


2.0 
3.9 


3,030 


Brazil nuts 


3,329 


Filberts 


.15.6 
.15.4 


65.3 
67.4 


13.0 
11.4 


2.4 
2.1 


3,432 


Hickory nuts .... 


3,495 


Pecan nuts 


.11.0 


71.2 


13.3 


1.5 


3,633 


English walnuts . . 


.16.7 


64.4 


14.8 


1*8 


3,305 


Chestnuts, fresh . . 


. 6.2 


5.4 


42.1 


1.3 


1,125 


Chestnuts, dried . . 


.10.7 


7.0 


74.2 


2.2 


1,875 


Acorns 


. 8.1 
.21.9 
.27.9 


37.4 

57.4 
61.2 


48.0 

13.2 

3.4 


2.4 
3.5 
3.0 


2,718 


Beechnuts 


3,263 


Butternuts 


3,371 


Black walnuts 


. 27.6 


56.3 


11.7 


1.9 


3,105 


Cocoanuts 


. 5.7 


50.6 


27.9 


1.7 


2,986 


Cocoanuts shredded 


. 6.3 


57.3 


31.6 


1.3 


3,125 


Pistachios, kernels. 


.22.6 


54.5 


15.6 


3.1 


3,010 


Pine nuts or pinons 


14.6 


61.9 


17.3 


2.8 


3,364 


Peanuts, raw 


.25.8 


38.6 


24.4 


2.0 


2,560 


Peanuts, roasted . . 


.30.5 


49.2 


16.2 


2.5 


3,177 


Litchi nuts 


. 2.9 


.2 


77.5 


1.5 


1,453 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 169 

With the exception of smoked bacon, there 
is no flesh food which even approaches the nut 
in nutritive value, and bacon owes its high 
value to the fact that it consists almost exclu- 
sively of fat. 

That the nut is appreciated as a dainty is 
attested by the frequency with which it ap- 
pears as a dessert and the extensive use of vari- 
ous nuts as confections. That nuts do not 
hold a more prominent place in the national 
bill of fare is due chiefly to two causes; first, 
the popular idea that nuts are highly indiges- 
tible, and second, their comparatively high 
price. 

The notion that nuts are difficult of diges- 
tion has really no foundation in fact. The idea 
is probably the natural outgrowth of the cus- 
tom of eating nuts at the close of a meal when 
an abundance, more likely a super-abundance, 
of highly nutritious foods has already been 
eaten and the equally injurious custom of eat- 
ing nuts between meals. Neglect of thorough 
mastication must also be mentioned as a com- 
mon cause of indigestion following the use of 
nuts. Nuts are generally eaten dry and have 
a firm hard flesh which requires thorough use 
of the organs of mastication to prepare them 



170 THE ITINERAR { OF A BREAKFAST 

for the action of the several digestive juices. 
Experiments made in Germany showed that 
nuts are not digested at all but pass through 
the alimentary canal like foreign bodies un- 
less reduced to a smooth paste in the mouth. 
Particles of nuts the size of small seeds wholly 
escaped digestion. 

The Origin of Peanut Butter 

Having been for more than fifty years 
actively interested in promoting the use of nuts 
as a staple food, I have given considerable 
thought and study to their dietetic value and 
have made many experiments. About twenty- 
five years ago it occurred to me that one of the 
above objections to the extensive dietetic use 
of nuts might be overcome by mechanical pre- 
paration of the nut before serving so as to re- 
duce it to a smooth paste and thus insure the 
preparation for digestion which the average 
eater is prone to neglect. The result was a 
product which I called peanut butter. I was 
much surprised at the readiness with which 
the product sprang into public favor. Several 
years ago I was informed by a wholesale gro- 
cer of Chicago that the firm's sales of peanut 
butter amounted on an average to a carload a 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 171 

week. I think it is safe to estimate that not 
less than one thousand carloads of this product 
are annually consumed in this country. The 
increased demand for peanuts for making pea- 
nut butter led to the development of "corners" 
in the peanut market and doubled the price 
and the annual production. 

I am citing my experience with the peanut 
not for the purpose of recommending this 
product, for I am obliged to confess that I was 
soon compelled to abandon the use of peanut 
butter prepared from roasted nuts, for the 
reason that the process of roasting renders the 
nut indigestible to such a degree that it was 
not adapted to the use of invalids, but simply 
as an illustration of the readiness with which 
the public accepts a new dietetic idea when it 
happens to strike the popular fancy. 

Delicious nut butters may be prepared 
from true nuts such as the almond, filbert, and 
pine nut, by blanching and crushing, without 
roasting. Peanuts require steam roasting. 

Ways must be found to render the use of 
nuts practical by adapting them to our culin- 
ary and dietetic customs and to overcome the 
popular objection to their use by a widespread 
and efficient campaign of education. 



172 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Food Economy 

It has long been predicted by economists 
that the time would come when a densely pop- 
ulated world would be compelled to derive its 
sustenance directly from the soil. The present 
high prices of meat were anticipated more 
than twenty years ago by the officials of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. 
The increase of our human population and the 
decrease of our animal population have both 
progressed more rapidly than was anticipated, 
and the artificial conditions imposed by the 
world war have still further increased the price 
of meat and made meatless days a necessity. 
Thus the question, Is meat essential to com- 
plete human nutrition? has become most per- 
tinent. 

A fundamental error is embodied in the 
popular faith in the high protein ration. The 
physiologists are at least partly at fault. Lie- 
big's dictum, which made protein the essential 
food factor in supporting work, has misled the 
whole civilized world for more than half a cen- 
tury. The dietaries of institutions, armies, 
whole nations have been based upon a concep- 
tion which modern science has shown to be 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 173 

utterly false, and the result has been an eco- 
nomic loss which staggers belief, and a de- 
struction of human life and efficiency which 
over-shadows most other malign influences. 

As an abstract scientific proposition this 
question was answered by the physiologists 
years ago by laboratory experiments. Ac- 
cording to Magnus Levy, one of the world's 
most eminent authorities, "It is indeed true 
that the vegetable albuminous substances as 
they occur in nature are equal in nutritive 
value to an equivalent protein of animal 
origin." 

More recent studies, however, by McCol- 
lum and others have shown that the selection 
of the vegetable foodstuffs which shall com- 
pose the bill-of-fare is not a matter of indif- 
ference. There is a difference in proteins. 
Every vegetable produces proteins which are 
peculiar to itself. Animal proteins also differ, 
but apparently less widely than do vegetable 
proteins, and many vegetable proteins differ 
very greatly in character from those which 
compose the highly vitalized parts of the hu- 
man body. 

Fortunately, vegetable proteins do not all 
differ in the same way. Some differ in one di- 



174 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

rection, others in the exact opposite direction. 
And so by the proper selection of vegetable 
foodstuffs it is possible to make a combina- 
tion which will supply the human body with 
just the sort of material which it requires 
for building purposes and for repairs. 

Taking the protein of the human body 
for a standard, it is found that the proteins 
which are found in cereals, green and root veg- 
etables, legumes and most other vegetable 
products are incomplete. They are lacking in 
certain elements which are absolutely essential 
to the building of healthy human blood and 
tissues. 

Careful chemical analysis, however, has 
shown in recent years that the proteins of nuts, 
or at least of some of them, are complete pro- 
teins. Nuts, in fact, furnish proteins of such 
fine quality that they are capable of comple- 
menting other foodstuffs. Their proteins 
supply the elements necessary to render com- 
plete the proteins of cereals and other vege- 
table foods. This discovery is one of the high- 
est importance since it opens a door of escape 
for the race from the threatened extinction by 
starvation at some future period, perhaps not 
so very remote. 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 175 

Advantages of a Nut Diet 

This fact places the nut in an exceedingly 
important position as a foodstuff. In face of 
vanishing meat supplies it is most comforting 
to know that meats of all sorts may be safely 
replaced by nuts not only without loss, but 
with a decided gain. Nuts have several advan- 
tages over flesh foods which are well worth 
considering. 

1. Nuts are free from waste products, 
uric acid, urea, carnine, and other tissue 
wastes. 

2. Nuts are aseptic, free from putrefac- 
tive bacteria, and do not readily undergo de- 
cay either in the body or outside of it. Meats, 
on the other hand, are practically always in an 
advanced stage of putrefaction, as found in the 
meat markets. Ordinary meats contain from 
three million to ten times that number of bac- 
teria per ounce, and such meats as Hamburg- 
er steak often contain more than a billion put- 
refactive organisms to the ounce. Nuts are 
clean and sweet. 

3. Nuts are free from trichinae, tape- 
worm, and other parasites, as well as other in- 
fections due to specific disease. Nuts are in 



176 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

good health when gathered and remain so un- 
til eaten. The contrast between the delectable 
product of the beautiful walnut, chestnut or 
pecan tree and the abbatoir recalls the story of 
the Tennessee school teacher who was told 
when she made inquiry about a certain should- 
er of pork which had been promised in part 
payment for services but had not arrived, 
"Dad didn't kill the pig;" "and why not?" said 
the teacher. "Because," replied the observing 
youngster, "he got well." Nearly all the 
cows slaughtered are tuberculous. They are 
killed to be eaten because too sick to serve 
longer as community wet nurses. 

It is also worthy of note that the fat of 
nuts exists in a finely divided state and that in 
the chewing of nuts a fine emulsion is produced 
so that nuts enter the stomach in a form best 
adapted for prompt digestion. 

Another question which will naturally 
arise is this : if nuts are to be granted the place 
of a staple in our list of food supplies, will it 
be safe to accept them as a substitute for flesh 
foods? 

Beefsteak with many people has become a 
veritable fetish, but the experiments of Chit- 
tenden and others have demonstrated that the 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 177 

amount of protein needed by the body daily is 
so small that it is scarcely possible to arrange 
a bill of fare to include flesh foods without 
making the protein intake excessive. This is 
because the ordinary foodstuffs other than 
meat contain a sufficient amount of protein to 
meet the needs of the body. Nuts present 
their protein in combination with so large a 
proportion of easily digestible fat that there is 
comparatively little danger of getting an ex- 
cess. 

It is also worthy of note that the protein 
of nuts is superior in quality to that of ordi- 
nary vegetables or meats. The careful an- 
alyses made in recent years have shown that 
the protein of nuts, at least of a number of 
them, contain all the elements needed for build- 
ing up complete body proteins ; in other words, 
nuts furnish perfect proteins, which are not 
supplied so abundantly by any other vegetable 
product. 

A False Economy 

From an economic standpoint, the rearing 
of animals for food is a monstrous extrava- 
gance. According to Professor Henry, dean 
of the Agricultural Department of the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, and author of an author- 



178 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

itative work on foods and feeding, one hun- 
dred pounds of food fed to a steer produce less 
than three pounds of food in the form of flesh. 
In other words, we must feed the steer thirty- 
three pounds of corn in order to get back one 
pound of food in the form of steak. Such an 
extravagant waste can be tolerated only so 
long as it is possible to produce a large excess 
of foodstuffs. It is stated, as a matter of fact, 
that at the present time scarcely more than ten 
per cent, of the corn raised in the United 
States is directly consumed by human beings. 
A large part of it is wasted in feeding to ani- 
mals. This economic loss has been long known 
to practical men but it has been regarded as 
unavoidable since meat has been supposed to 
be absolutely essential as an article of food; 
but the experience of Germany since the be- 
ginning of the present war, as well as of Ja- 
pan, China, and India for many centuries, has 
fully demonstrated the possibility of eliminat- 
ing meat from the national bill of fare. 

The use of nuts as a staple article of food 
is not an experiment. All the higher apes, 
man's nearest relatives in the animal world, 
thrive on nuts. Many savage tribes live very 
largely on nuts. The Indians of the foothills 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 179 

of California gather every fall large quan- 
tities of nuts which they store for winter use. 
The early settlers of California reported 
that many tribes of Indians in that part 
of the United States lived almost wholly upon 
acorns. Before the great oak forests of this 
country were cut down, many millions of 
hogs were fattened on mast, and the price of 
pork depended more upon the acorn crop than 
on the corn crop. The peasantry of southern 
France and northern Italy during half the 
year make two meals a day on chestnuts. 

As a matter of fact, milk and eggs supply 
essentially the same protein that is furnished 
by meat, and milk protein in some respects is 
superior to that of meat; but milk is rapidly 
rising in price and will doubtless go still high- 
er for the reason that for every pound of food 
in the form of milk it is necessary to feed a 
cow more than five times the amount of food 
obtained; and for every pound of food in the 
form of eggs we must throw away nearly 
twenty pounds of good food. So it is more 
than probable that the time may not be far 
distant when the people of this country, like 
those of some other countries, and like our 
primitive ancestors who lived wholly upon the 



180 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

products of the forests, and our modern bio- 
logical relatives, the orang-utan, the chimpan- 
zee, and the gorilla, must depend chiefly upon 
the products of the vegetable kingdom with 
the addition of eggs and milk for their suste- 
nance. 

It is important then to know that, if such 
a time comes, it would be possible so to ar- 
range the bill of fare that the race may lose 
nothing of vigor or energy because of the re- 
striction in diet. As a matter of fact, there is 
good reason to believe that if man had never 
acquired his present omnivorous habits and 
had adhered to his original vegetable regimen, 
he might have escaped a very large proportion 
of the multitudinous ills which have greatly 
impaired his efficiency and are even threaten- 
ing extinction of the race. 

The high price of meat of which so much 
complaint has been made in recent years is not 
likely to recede. The high price is not due to 
manipulations of the market, but to natural 
causes the chief of which is the limitation of 
pasturage and consequently a great decrease 
in the number of livestock. As the country be- 
comes more and more densely settled, the diffi- 
culty of supplying the demand for meat will 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 181 

increase, and in time the necessity for utilizing 
every foot of ground in the most efficient man- 
ner will necessarily bring about a change in 
the dietetic habits of the people. Not one ex- 
ample can be found in the world of a densely 
populated country dependent upon its own re- 
sources in which flesh foods constitute any con- 
siderable part of the national bill of fare. Since 
Germany has been nearly shut off from the 
outside world by the present war, the govern- 
ment has found it necessary to restrict the con- 
sumption of meat to one-half pound per week 
for each adult. All other European countries 
are equally dependent on outside sources for 
their meat supply. 

The time will certainly come when nuts 
and nut trees will become a most important 
food resource. If a reform in this direction 
could be effected within the next ten years, the 
result would be a disappearance to a large ex- 
tent of the complaint of the high cost of living. 
James Hill said the basis for complaint was 
not the high cost of living, but the cost of high 
living. I should prefer to say that the real 
cause for complaint was wrong living rather 
than high living, or necessarily high cost. 
With right living the cost will be automatical- 



182 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

ly reduced. For example, suppose a person 
were content to choose the peanut as his chief 
source of protein and fat, the elimination of the 
butcher's bill for meat and the grocer's bill for 
butter would at once cut out two-thirds of the 
expense incurred for food. 

A Personal Experience 

When a student in college more than forty 
years ago, the writer lived three months on a 
diet such as has been above suggested, at an 
average expense of exactly six cents a day. 
This was the total amount expended for raw 
foodstuffs. I paid my landlady five times as 
much for preparing and serving the food, and 
had reason for believing that some portion of 
my supplies was utilized by others than my- 
self. As evidence of the fact that the experi- 
ment was not dangerous, I may add that I 
have pursued the same meatless dietary dur- 
ing my entire lifetime since, as I had done for 
ten years before, and in my sixty-seventh am 
still alive and hard at work. 

Man is naturally a frugivorous animal. 
According to Cuvier, the renowned French 
naturalist, the natural diet of human beings, 
like that of those other primates, the orang- 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 183 

utan, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla, consists 
of fruits, nuts, tender shoots and grains. 

A sturdy Scotch highlander told me that his 
diet consisted of brose, bannocks, and potatoes, 
and that he rarely ever tasted meat. When 
asked what he fed his dogs, he replied, "The 
same as I eat myself, sir." The highbred fox- 
hounds of the Southern States are fed on corn- 
meal, oatmeal and bread, and rarely taste flesh 
of any sort. Dogs thus fed are hardier, health- 
ier, have more endurance, better wind, keener 
scent, greater intelligence, and are more easily 
trained than meat fed dogs. A diet which is 
safe for carnivorous animals must certainly be 
safe for human beings who belong to a class of 
animals all representatives of which, with the 
exception of man, are flesh abstainers. 

Some years ago I experimented with vari- 
ous sorts of carnivorous animals for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining whether nuts could be 
made a complete substitute for meat. Among 
the various animals utilized for the experiment 
was a young wolf from the Northwest that had 
never eaten anything but fresh raw meat. Af- 
ter giving the animal one day to get accus- 
tomed to its new surroundings and to acquire 
a good appetite I gave him a breakfast of nuts 



184 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

properly prepared and was delighted to find 
that he took to the new ration without the 
slightest hesitation and remained in excellent 
health during the several months of the experi- 
ment. I succeeded perfectly in substituting 
nuts for meat with all the animals experi- 
mented upon including a fish hawk, with the 
single exception of an ancient bald-headed 
eagle which refused to be converted. 

The First Mammals Were Nut-Eaters 

I have long had a suspicion that the so- 
called carnivorous animals were all at some 
remote time nut-eaters; the so-called carniv- 
orous teeth would be as useful in tearing off 
the husks of cocoanuts and similar fruits as 
for tearing and eating flesh. 

It is gratifying to be assured by the emi- 
nent Prof. Matthews that the first mammals 
were nut-eaters and vegetarians and that our 
remote ancestors were nut and fruit eaters. 
They may have gobbled an insect now and 
then but their staple food was fruits and nuts 
with tender shoots and succulent roots, which 
is still true of those old-fashioned forest folks, 
the primates, of which the orang-utan, the 
chimpanzee and the gorilla are consistent rep- 



NUTS A COMING FOOD STAPLE 185 

resentatives, while their near relative, also a 
primate, civilized man, has departed from his 
original bill of fare and has exploited the bills 
of fare of the whole animal kingdom. 

The keeper of the famous big apes of the 
London Zoo informed me that they were never 
given meat. Even the small monkeys, gen- 
erally regarded as insectivorous, were confined 
to a rigid vegetarian fare and were thriving. 

Whole races of men, comprising many mil- 
lions, live their entire lives without meats of 
any sort, and when fed a sufficient amount are 
wonderfully vigorous, prolific, enduring and 
intelligent. Witness the Brahmins of India, 
the Buddhists of China and Japan and the 
teeming millions of Central Africa. 

The World's Pedestrian Record Won by a 
Nut Eater 

Carl Mann, the winner of the great walk- 
ing match between Berlin and Dresden, per- 
formed his great feat on a diet of nuts with 
lettuce and fruits. 

Weston, the long distance champion, never 
eats meat when on a long walk. The Tarahu- 
mara Indians, the fleetest and most enduring 
runners in the world, are strict vegetarians. 



186 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

The gorilla, the king of the Congo forests, is a 
nut-feeder. Milo, the mighty Greek, was a 
flesh-abstainer as was also Pythagoras, the 
first of the Greek philosophers, Seneca, the 
noble Roman senator and Plutarch, the fam- 
ous biographer. 

The writer has excluded meats of all sorts 
from his bill of fare for more than fifty years, 
and has within the last forty years supervised 
the treatment of more than a hundred thou- 
sand sick people at the Battle Creek Sanitar- 
ium on a meatless diet and superintended the 
activities of a family of workers averaging for 
many years more than 1000, who are also 
flesh-abstainers, no meat being served at the 
Sanitarium to either patients or workers. 

Even carnivorous animals flourish on a diet 
of nuts with other vegetable foods and cooked 
cereals. The Turks mix nuts with their pilaff 
of rice and the Armenians add nuts to their 
boolghoor, a dish prepared from wheat which 
has been cooked and dried. 

With the addition of milk or eggs, a flesh- 
less diet is not only absolutely safe and suffi- 
cient but in every way superior to a flesh diet. 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 187 

Nuts May Save the Race 

In view of these facts it is most interesting 
to know that in nuts, the most neglected of all 
well known food products, we find the assur- 
ance of an ample and complete food supply 
for all future time, even though necessity 
should compel the total abandonment of our 
present forms of animal industry. 

One of the great advantages of the nut is 
that with few exceptions it may be eaten di- 
rect from the hand of nature without culinary 
preparation of any sort. Indeed, the com- 
mon custom in offering nuts as dessert is an 
acknowledgment that the refined chemistry 
of nature's laboratory permits of no improve- 
ment by the clumsy methods of the kitchen. 

The Nut is a Fruit with a Shell 

In the process of ripening, the actinic rays 
of the sun digest the crude starch found in the 
green fruit and convert it into delicious fats 
and sugars ready for prompt utilization. The 
protein of the nut resembles the casein of milk 
and requires no cooking to render it readily 
digestible. The only preparation the nut 
needs is thorough mastication to insure the 



188 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

prompt admixture and action of the diges- 
tive fluids. Mastication is chiefly a mechani- 
cal process and may be very largely substi- 
tuted by crushing the nut into a paste or grind- 
ing it into a fine meal. 

More than fifty years ago it had been 
demonstrated that flesh foods are not an es- 
sential part of the dietary of man. Cuvier, 
the great French naturalist, had stated that 
man's natural diet was the same as that of the 
chimpanzee and the orang-utan and consisted 
of fruits, nuts, soft grains and tender shoots. 

The evidence of the scientific accuracy of 
Cuvier's statement was so conclusive that the 
writer adopted the natural diet and has fol- 
lowed it since. He has, during this entire 
time, very earnestly advocated the biologic diet 
and thousands of people have been persuaded 
to adopt it. 

In the Battle Creek Sanitarium more than 
100,000 sick people besides employees, stu- 
dents, friends of patients and guests, number- 
ing at least half as many more persons, have 
been introduced to a fleshless bill of fare often 
with very evident and very great benefit. 

In this institution no small interest has 
been taken in nuts as a part of nature's scheme 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 189 

of human feeding, and a conspicuous place has 
been given them in our bill of fare. During 
all this period extensive inquiries have been 
carried on, having for their purpose the devel- 
opment of the nutritive properties of all sorts 
of foodstuffs and many thousands of experi- 
ments with nuts have been made in food labor- 
atories. In the course of these experiments 
the simple process of making peanut butter 
was hit upon which has since developed into a 
great industry. A process for making a vege- 
table substitute for milk, malted nuts, was 
also perfected. By request of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, experiments were 
carried on to find a vegetable substitute for 
meat which resulted in the production of Pro- 
tose, a nut preparation, which to a considerable 
degree, resembles meat in appearance, taste 
and odor, having a slight fibre like potted 
meat. Some hundreds of tons of these nut 
foods have been made and used and they have 
proved to be complete nutritive substitutes for 
meat. 



190 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Nuts a Good Food foe Nursing Mothers 
and Infants 

The increasing incapacity of American 
mothers to provide lacteal nourishment for 
their infants has for years been the subject of 
much discussion among physicians and has 
come to be regarded as a just occasion for 
alarm as an evidence of race degeneracy and 
a potent cause of infant mortality. 

Statistics show that the birth rate is rapidly 
falling in the United States as well as in all 
other civilized countries. At the present rate 
of decline no babies will be born in the year 
2,000. 

The American woman is for some reason 
losing the capacity for motherhood. It seems 
that the maternal fount is drying up, and 
with the loss of capacity for feeding her off- 
spring the American woman is losing her fe- 
cundity. The ability to bear and to feed off- 
spring is a physiologic unity. With failure of 
one function there is a corresponding decline 
in the other. 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 191 

The Blight of the Baby Crop 

There are born in this country every year 
2,500,000 babies. Of these 300,000 die before 
they are one year old. The mortality of bot- 
tle-fed infants is ten to twenty times as great 
as that of those who are breast fed. In other 
words, the failure of mothers to nurse their in- 
fants is responsible for the death of scores of 
thousands of infants annually. Every year 
we lose babies enough to people a large city 
because they are not supplied with their nat- 
ural food, breast milk, for which cow's milk is 
by no means a complete substitute. 

A matter of such serious moment has nat- 
urally received no small amount of attention. 
We have a national society devoted to the 
"Prevention of Infant Mortality." Numer- 
ous experts have devoted much time to the 
study of this question. Many theories and 
conjectures have been presented, but few 
facts. Dr. Chalmers Watson of Edinburgh 
some years ago made extensive feeding experi- 
ments upon rats which led him to the conclu- 
sion that the increased consumption of meat 
was the potent cause of the failure in the geni- 
tive power of the British race. He found that 



192 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

a meat diet caused in rats within two or three 
generations marked degeneration of the sex- 
ual glands, shriveling of the breasts and ster- 
ility. This eminent physiologist noted that in 
the British Islands the decline of the birth 
rate had been simultaneous with the marked 
increase in the consumption of meat within 
the last fifty years. 

Recently, additional light has been thrown 
upon this subject which is of special interest to 
those who are concerned with dietetics. 

Interesting Experiments 

At the Detroit, Michigan, Woman's Hos- 
pital and Infants' Home there has recently 
been conducted by Dr. Hoobler an extensive 
series of experiments for the purpose of de- 
termining the influence of diet upon the milk 
production of a nursing mother. It has long 
been known that a simple increase of food or 
of fat has no other effect than to make the 
mother fat without increasing the flow of 
milk. Dr. Hoobler's experiments had for 
their purpose to determine the influence of 
individual foods and specially arranged dietar- 
ies upon the production of milk. Studies were 
made of the effects of meat, eggs, cow's milk, a 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 193 

strictly vegetable dietary (fruits, grains and 
vegetables), and nuts. 

The influence of the diet was judged by 
the following points: 

1. The amount of milk produced. 

2. The food value of the milk. 

3. The effect upon the mother as regards 
loss or gain of flesh. 

It was found that a diet consisting largely 
of nuts (fifty per cent.) was far superior to 
any other dietary and in every particular. 
The amount of milk was larger than the av- 
erage (14.8%), the food value was greater 
(30%), and the mother did better. It was 
noted that the mothers "took the diet readily 
and in fact enjoyed it." (Jour. Am. Med. 
Assn. Aug. 12, 1917.) 

The experimenter explicitly states in his 
report before the American Medical Associa- 
tion (June, 1917), that "nut protein seems 
in every way as suitable for elaborating milk 
protein as does animal protein." This is an 
exceedingly important observation for it dem- 
onstrates two very interesting and basic facts : 

1. That animal protein may be wholly dis- 
pensed with; that is, that a diet from which 
meat, milk and eggs are wholly excluded is 



194 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

capable of affording adequate nourishment 
even for a nursing mother. 

2. That nuts are necessary to give com- 
pleteness to a diet from which milk, meat and 
eggs are excluded. 

The special method of researcfi adopted 
by Dr. Hoobler provides a most delicate bio- 
logic test for the nutrient value of a food. The 
test shows the nut to be superior to meat, milk 
or eggs or all of these foods together in pro- 
ducing the highest degree of nutritive efficien- 
cy. It has heretofore been claimed that the 
body can make body protein more easily out 
of the protein of meat, milk, or eggs, that is, 
animal protein of some sort, than from vege- 
table protein. It now appears that this is not 
true. Nut protein is the best of all sources 
upon which the body may draw for its sup- 
plies of tissue building and repairing material. 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 195 

Low Comparative Cost of Nuts 

The high price of nuts is constantly urged 
as an objection to their use as a staple. It is 
probable that a largely increased demand 
would lead to so great an increase in the sup- 
ply that the cost of production, and hence the 
cost to the consumer, would be decreased. 
But even at the present prices the choicest va- 
rieties of nuts are cheaper than meats if equiv- 
alent food values are compared. This is clear- 
ly shown by the following table which indi- 
cates the amounts of various flesh foods which 
are equivalent to one pound of walnut meats. 

One pound of walnut meats equals in food 
value each of the following: 

Pounds 

Beef loin, lean 4.00 

Beef ribs, lean 6.50 

Beef neck, lean 9.50 

Veal 5.50 

Mutton leg, lean 4.20 

Ham, lean 3.00 

Fowls 4.00 

Chicken, broilers 10.00 

Red Bass 25.00 

Trout 4.80 

Frogs' legs 15.00 

Oysters 13.50 



196 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Pounds 

Lobsters 22.00 

Eggs 5.00 

Milk 9.50 

Evaporated cream 4.00 

But the great economic importance of the 
encouragement of nut culture in every civil- 
ized land is best shown by comparing the 
amount of food which may be annually pro- 
duced by an acre of land planted to nut trees 
and the same area devoted to the production 
of beef. The writer is credibly informed that 
two acres of land and two years are required 
to produce a steer weighing 600 pounds. The 
product of one acre for one year would be one- 
fourth as much, or 150 pounds of steer. The 
same land planted to walnut trees would pro- 
duce, if I am correctly informed, an average 
of at least 100 pounds per tree per annum 
for the first twenty years. Forty trees to the 
acre would aggregate 4,000 pounds of nuts, 
or 1,000 pounds of walnut meats. The high- 
est food value which could be ascribed to the 
150 pounds of beef would be 150,000 calories 
or food units. The food value of the nut 
meats would be 3,000,000 calories, or twenty 
times as much food from the nut trees as from 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 197 

the fattened steer, and food of the same gen- 
eral character, that is protein and fat, but of 
greatly superior quality. 

One acre of walnut trees, 40 trees to the 
acre, will produce every year food equal to any 
one of the following items : 

20,000 lbs. brook trout 

5,000 lbs. beef (eight steers) 
16,000 lbs. chicken broilers 
34,000 lbs. lobsters 
30,000 lbs. oysters 
66,000 eggs (5,000 dozen) 
7,000 qts. milk 
A ton of mutton (13 sheep) 
250,000 frogs. 
And when one acre will do so much, think 
of the product of a million acres. 

Ten times the product of all the fisheries 
of the country. 

Half as much as all the poultry of the 
country. 

One-seventh as much as all the beef pro- 
duced. 

More than twice the value of all the sheep. 
Half as much as all the pork. 
And many millions of acres may be thus 
utilized in nut culture. 



198 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

And the walnut is not the only promising 
tree. The hickory, the pecan, the butternut, 
the filbert, and the pinon are all capable of 
producing equal or greater results. 

A single acre of nut trees will produce pro- 
tein enough to feed four persons a year and 
fat enough for twice that number of average 
persons. So 25,000,000 acres of nut trees 
would more than supply the whole people of 
the United States with their two most expen- 
sive foodstuffs. Cereals and fresh vegetables, 
our cheapest foods, would be needed for the 
carbohydrate portion of the dietary. Just 
think of it. A little nut orchard 200 miles 
square supplying one-third enough food to 
feed one hundred million of citizens. The 
trouble is the hogs and cattle are eating up 
our food supplies. We feed a steer 100 
pounds of food and get back only 2.8 pounds. 
If we plant 10 pounds of corn we get back 
500 pounds. If we plant one walnut we get 
back in twenty harvests a ton of choicest food. 
In nut culture there is a treasury of wealth 
and health and national prosperity and safety 
that is at present little appreciated. 

Here is a great storehouse of wealth, a 
potential food supply which may save the 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 199 

world from any suggestion of hunger for cen- 
turies to come if properly utilized. 

Every man who cuts down a timber tree 
should be required to plant a nut tree. A nut 
tree has a double value. It produces valuable 
timber and yields every year a rich harvest of 
food while it is growing. 

Every highway should be lined with nut 
trees. Nut trees will grow on land on which 
no other crop will grow and which is even 
worthless for grazing. The pinon flourishes 
on the bleak and barren peaks of the Rockies. 

The nut should no longer be considered a 
table luxury. It should become a staple ar- 
ticle of food and may most profitably replace 
the pork and meats of various sorts which are 
inferior foods and are recognized as prolific 
sources of disease. 

Ten nut trees planted for each inhabitant 
will insure the country against any possibility 
of food shortage. A row of nut trees on each 
side of our 3,000,000 miles of country roads 
will provide protein for a population of 100,- 
000,000. With a vanishing animal industry, 
nut-culture offers the only solution of the ques- 
tion of food supply. As the late Prof. Virchow 
said, "The future is with the vegetarians." 



200 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Something Must Be Done 

When one contemplates the fact that the 
meat supply of the world is rapidly diminish- 
ing, and realizes that there is no probability 
that the diminished supply of animal food- 
stuffs will ever be materially increased but 
rather will steadily diminish, the importance 
of encouraging nut-culture will be appreciated. 
The human body must have for its perfect nu- 
trition and maintenance, special proteins which 
appear to be found only in animal foods and 
nuts. To nuts, then, we must look for the 
future sustenance of the race. At least nuts 
must be used as a supplement to other vege- 
table foods, and in increasing quantity as the 
meat supply decreases. 

It is certainly high time that governments, 
state and national, were giving attention to 
this highly important question. Millions of 
nut trees should be planted on public lands, 
along railroads and highways, in mountain 
regions and other waste places which have 
been denuded of their primitive forest growths. 
Nut pines, of which, according to Dr. Morris, 
there are thirty different species adapted to 
all conditions of climate and soil, black wal- 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 201 

nuts and hickories in the north, and in the 
south pecans and other subtropical nut trees, 
should be planted on an extensive scale. In 
the near future vast forests of these precious 
food-producing trees will be needed to supply 
the nutriment required by teeming millions of 
hungry people in this country and Europe. 

Every farmer should prepare to plant a 
few acres of nut orchard next spring. There 
are millions of second growth hickories of the 
pignut and other worthless varieties growing 
in pastures and by the roadside which by graft- 
ing with shagbark cuttings may become pro- 
lific producers of one of the best of nuts. 

Nut growing is certainly destined to be- 
come one of the most important of our agri- 
cultural industries. Half a century hence the 
nut crop will far exceed in volume and in value 
our present animal industry. 

If the U. S. Government will secure the 
planting of ten nut trees for each of its 100,- 
000,000 inhabitants, all the pastures may be 
converted into corn or wheat fields and all the 
packing houses into factories and the flocks 
of sheep and herds of swine and cattle may 
disappear, and yet no one will suffer from pro- 
tein starvation. 



202 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

Twenty million acres of land in walnut trees 
would suffice to furnish daily one-fourth of a 
pound of protein and half a pound of fat, the 
equivalent of a pound of beefsteak, and more 
than half a pound of butter for every man, 
woman and child in the republic. To what 
better use could we put our roadsides and a 
small slice of our public lands of which hun- 
dreds of millions of acres are lying waste and 
idle? And lands not fit for other purposes 
might be used for some species of nut trees. 

Nuts should be eaten at every meal and 
made a substantial part of the bill of fare. So 
long as the nut is regarded as a dainty, suit- 
ble only for dessert, the demand will be limited. 
But as its merits come to be appreciated it will 
be in greater demand and the industry will 
rapidly grow in volume. It is important, how- 
ever, that the public should be educated to 
look upon this choicest of all nature's products 
as a staple food and should give to it its proper 
place in the national bill of fare. 

The nut is the choicest aggregation of the 
materials essential for the building of sound 
human tissues, done up in a hermetically sealed 
package ready to be delivered by the gracious 
hand of Nature to those who are fortunate 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 203 

enough to appreciate the value of this finest 
of earth's bounties. 

The Best Nuts 

The family of edible nuts is small com- 
pared with the great variety of luscious fruits 
which abound in all parts of the world. 

In this country, something more than a 
dozen excellent nuts offer, however, a sufficient 
variety to satisfy gustatory needs. 

With two or three exceptions, nuts are rich 
in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates, 
whereas fruits, almost without exception, con- 
sist chiefly of carbohydrates, containing very 
little protein and almost no fats. Carbohy- 
drates in nuts exist almost wholly in the form 
of sugar and dextrine, whereas in fruits we 
find, in addition, several varieties of acids. 

Nuts are the most highly nourishing of all 
foodstuffs. With the exception of the chest- 
nut, the peanut, and the litchi nut, the aver- 
age nutritive value of nuts in general is about 
200 calories to the ounce, or double the value 
of an equal quantity of starch or sugar. 

Of the nuts which grow in this country, the 
most important are the almond, the English 
walnut, the pecan and the peanut. The native 



204 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

black walnut, the hickory nut, the pinon, the 
hazelnut, and the beech-nut are all valuable 
nuts which, by cultivation, might furnish enor- 
mous additions to our food supply. This is 
particularly true of the black walnut. 

Among the imported nuts, the most im- 
portant are the Brazil nut, the cocoanut, the 
pistachio, and the recently introduced litchi 
nut. 

The Almond 

This delicious nut may be placed at the 
head of the list as perhaps the finest of all the 
members of the nut family. One-fifth the 
weight of the almond consists of protein of 
the very finest quality, a larger proportion of 
this food element than is found in the best 
beefsteak, and it may be added that meat is in 
other respects inferior. 

Besides, the almond affords more than half 
its weight of a most delicious and highly di- 
gestible oil, together with about one-sixth its 
weight of sugar, sufficient to give to it the 
characteristic property which gave rise to the 
ancient eulogistic phrase, "as sweet as a nut." 
Besides these rich properties, the almond con- 
tains a peculiar substance, emulsin, by the aid 
of which it is possible to prepare from blanched 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 205 

and crushed almonds, with the addition of 
water, a most delicious milk or cream, which, 
with the addition of a little sugar, very closely 
resembles, not only in appearance but also in 
nutritive properties, modified cows' milk. 

The almond has the advantage over many 
other nuts in the fact that the astringent, leath- 
ery skin with which it is covered may be eas- 
ily removed by the simple process of blanching. 

An ounce of almonds blanched and slight- 
ly roasted, or crushed and served as a nut 
butter, is a most wholesome addition to any 
meal, and may be used once or twice a day 
with advantage. 

The Hickory Nut and the Pecan 

The meat of the shellbark hickory nut is 
a most delicious morsel. It is richer in fat than 
any other nut with the exception of the pecan, 
a variety of the hickory which contains two- 
thirds its weight of easily digestible oil, with 
15 per cent protein and 11 per cent carbohy- 
drate. A pound of hickory nut meats is equal 
in nutritive value to more than 4 pounds of 
average meat. The pecan contains 4 per cent 
more fat and 4 per cent less protein. In food 
value, a pound of pecan meats exceeds the 



206 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

hickory nut in food value by 200 calories, and 
it is the most highly nutritious of all the na- 
tural products of the vegetable kingdom. In 
fact, with the exception of pure fat or oil, 
there is no food substance which offers nutri- 
tive material in so concentrated a form. 

The Walnut 

The native black walnut and its cousin, the 
butternut, are among the finest food-produc- 
ing trees indigenous to this country. The fat 
of walnut meats is nearly three-fifths, and 
the protein content is nearly 28 per cent, giv- 
ing a nutritive value three times that of fat 
meat. A pound of walnuts, in fact, contains 
nearly 50 per cent more protein than the same 
quantity of beef, and two-thirds as much fat 
as a pound of butter. The butternut contains 
a little more fat than the walnut, with the 
same amount of protein, but barely 3 per cent 
of carbohydrate, less than that of any other 
nut, a fact which renders the butternut es- 
pecially valuable for persons suffering with 
diabetes. 

The English walnut differs from the black 
walnut in containing a little more fat and less 
than two-thirds the amount of protein. It is 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 207 

also slightly richer in carbohydrates. The 
culture of the English walnut is rapidly ex- 
tending in California and recently some vari- 
eties have been produced which have proven 
hardy in our Northern and Western States, so 
there appears to be no reason why the English 
or Persian walnut may not be made to grow 
almost anywhere its black cousin flourishes. 

The black walnut is certainly worthy of 
much more attention than it has received. The 
difficulty of removing the meat from the thick 
shell may be overcome by grafting ordinary 
stock with the newly produced thin-shelled 
varieties. It is claimed that a walnut tree 10 
years old will produce annually 100 pounds 
of nuts from which 40 pounds of meats may 
be obtained. 

Pine Nuts. — The pine nut is a seed pro- 
duced in the cones of certain species of pine. 
More than thirty different varieties are known, 
varying in size from that of a lentil to a horse 
chestnut. 

The Pinon, which grows in the western 
Rockies and the foothills of California, is a 
most delicious nut. In composition it is more 
than three-fifths fat and contains about two- 
thirds as much protein as the almond. As 



208 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

found in the market, shelled pifions are dirty 
and quite unattractive in appearance, but the 
nut meats may be easily cleansed by washing 
first with ordinary water then with water con- 
taining half of one per cent of peroxide of hy- 
drogen. This will not only cleanse but disin- 
fect the nuts, destroying germs of any sort 
with which the kernels may have become in- 
fected in their peregrinations from the distant 
forest to the dinner table. The nut meats may 
be quickly dried by exposure to the heat of 
an oven. The flavor of the nuts is improved 
by very slight roasting. 

The Peanut, when well dried, contains 
50% more protein than the best beefsteak be- 
sides half its weight of an excellent oil. 

Slightly roasted in the shell, the nut is very 
wholesome. The salted, roasted peanuts, how- 
ever, found in the market, are often over- 
roasted, and on this account rather indigestible. 
In the form of peanut butter, first prepared by 
the writer nearly thirty years ago, the peanut 
has come to be used more extensively, per- 
haps, than any other nut. When properly 
prepared, peanut butter is easily digestible 
and highly nutritious. Unfortunately, many 
manufacturers increase their profits by using 



NUTS MAY SAVE THE RACE 209 

inferior and imperfect nuts. Through lack 
of care in roasting a certain proportion of the 
nuts are burned. The high temperature to 
which the fat is exposed produces irritating 
decomposition products which disturb diges- 
tion. 

Instead of roasting the nuts in ordinary 
coffee roasters, the usual method, they should 
be treated by steam heat only, thus avoiding 
a temperature high enough to decompose the 
fats. Prepared in this way, nut butter is 
wholesome as well as palatable and a valuable 
addition to the diet. 

The protein of the peanut has been shown 
by chemical research to belong to the class of 
complete proteins, which renders it equal to 
the protein of eggs and milk as a tissue-build- 
ing element. 

Peanuts are now largely used in the pro- 
duction of Malted Nuts, a substitute for milk, 
and Protose, a vegetable meat. 

The Litchi Nut. — This nut, a native of 
China, which has recently been introduced in- 
to this country, is a most valuable product. It 
is grown in China and Honolulu, and attempts 
have been made through the efforts of Mr. 
David Fairchild, of the Agricultural Depart- 



210 THE ITINERARY OF A BREAKFAST 

ment, to introduce the cultivation of the nut 
in California. The nuts obtainable in our 
market come from China. The characteristic 
feature of the nut is the fact that it contains 
practically no fat, only a trace of protein, and 
nearly four-fifths its weight of carbohydrate 
in the form of fruit sugar, similar to the sugar 
of honey. It is most delicious in flavor and 
supplies the elements generally present only 
in very small proportion in other nuts. 

The Cocoanut is so well known and so 
widely used in confections and otherwise, that 
scarcely anything need be said in its behalf. It 
should be mentioned, however, that a most 
excellent substitute for butter may be pre- 
pared from fresh cocoanuts by cutting the 
meat of the nut into strips and crushing in a 
meat grinder, then soaking the mass for two or 
three hours in several times its bulk of warm 
water. A rich cream will rise to the top. This 
is skimmed off and worked into a butter-like 
mass with an ordinary butter ladle. Butter 
prepared in this way is much used by Euro- 
peans in tropical countries. 













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